


But I Do

by SpaceWaffleHouseTM



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bonding Over Shared Misery, Brief Mentions Of Past Relationships, Brief discussions of children/babies, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Love at First Sight, M/M, Married Reylo, No Pregnancy, Oral Sex, Revenge Marriage, Revenge Oral, Revenge Sex, So Married, The world's slightest pinch of angst, They Fall Fast, Wedding Night, Wedding Rings, Weddings, but half an hour before the wedding, married at first sight, not a slow burn, they have their first kiss at the altar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-01-04 17:28:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21201383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWaffleHouseTM/pseuds/SpaceWaffleHouseTM
Summary: Rey and Ben get married at the same venue at the same time. When both are left at the altar, they decide to flip life off and marry each other.





	1. Vows

**Author's Note:**

> Reylo_prompts is a fucking curse

He isn’t sure if he should be heartbroken or not. Sure, he’s just been left at the aisle by the woman he thought he loved, but instead of feeling broken he’s just… disappointed, and he feels more free than anything. He feels like Bazine has just released him from sort of obligation he hadn’t known he was a part of, and maybe he thought about crying for a second, but mostly he’s just pissed about how humiliated he is. 

She’d abandoned him in front of all their guests and family. They’re still sitting in shock inside, calling friends and alerting social media of what’s just happened. Some are slandering Bazine’s decision, some are saying they knew this was going to be a failure all along, some are laughing and joking because they’re uncomfortable, but most are just in shock. 

He’s sitting on the steps of the venue, looking out over the beach where they were supposed to have their reception. Tables are still set up in preparation for the big event, they’re still waiting patiently for guests that will now never come. His head falls into his hands, and now he’s just plain angry at all this time, money, and effort he’s wasted on someone who’s just been planning to leave him all along. 

The chatter from inside grows louder as the door opens briefly, but Ben doesn’t look to see who’s come out. He can’t face anyone right now, if he speaks to someone—if someone speaks to  _ him _ —he’s going to snap at them and say something he’ll regret. His mood is utterly foul, and as he hears the rustling of fabric getting closer, he can hear whoever it is sniffling quietly as she walks by. At least, he assumes whoever it is is a she, none of the men in his wedding party were wearing dresses. 

She comes into view a few seconds later, and he’s suddenly blinded by a vision in white. The woman in front of him is another bride, but not his, not Bazine, she’d shown up to the venue in a business suit and carrying a briefcase before announcing that she didn’t want to get married after all. If she’d ever bought a dress, he hadn’t seen it. 

This woman is different, and she seems about as angry as he does. Her shoulders are tense, and as she walks down the stairs toward the sandy path that leads to the beach, he can see that she’s shed a single tear onto her well made-up cheek. Other than that, she looks defiant, radiant, like she’s ready to lead the entire world into battle. 

It doesn’t take him long to realize why she’s crying, or why she looks so pissed off. A vague part of him remembers that another wedding was taking place in another part of the venue that day, and he feels a wave of sympathy wash over himself for her. He doesn’t know how much she loved her fiance, but she had to love him a little or she wouldn’t have shed even one tear. Hell, he knows he loved his somewhat, he’s thought about crying some himself. 

She makes it to the bottom of the stairs before she sits down, and gives a frustrated sigh, placing her head in the palm of one hand as she props her elbow on top of a thigh that’s buried beneath layered skirts. He takes a moment to observe her, taking note of the subtle off-white of her gown—which has pretty, beaded bodice that is covered in white flowers over a sheer, nude fabric that dips low on her chest, and even lower on her back, and a skirt that’s full but isn’t impeding her ability to move about—and the veil that’s tucked into her hair just where two sections have been pinned back but blend into the loose waves of the rest. He’s struck by how beautiful she is, by how disappointed and stressed she looks, by how  _ miserable _ she seems to feel. 

“What are you staring at?” Her unexpectedly British accented voice asks him without even turning to look at him. 

He’s surprised that she’s noticed him staring, he’d thought she was too preoccupied with her own inner distress to worry about her surroundings—much like he’d been moments earlier. “S-Sorry, I just… I couldn’t help but noticing we seem to be in the same boat.”

At this, she turns to look at him, and that single tear that’s been making its way down her cheek falls off of it and onto the wood. She looks him up and down, takes in the clothing he’s wearing—the uniform of the groom—and gives him a sympathetic twitch of the corners of her mouth. “You too, huh?”

“Yeah, about twenty minutes ago. You?”

“Ten. We got halfway through the vows when he decided he was going to change his to ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think I love you anymore.’” She throws up her hands and scoffs. “Who the fuck says that?”

“At least yours showed up. Mine didn’t even wear her dress. She came by with a suitcase and a business suit on and told me the wedding was off. Even the bridesmaids were shocked.” He flicks a stray grain of sand off of his trousers, then he shrugs. “But whatever, I think… I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t meant to work out all along. I’m not even that upset.”

“Neither am I,” she says, turning to face him fully now as her skirts splay out on the steps. “I thought I’d be sad, or heartbroken or something, but I just feel—“

“Disappointed? Frustrated? Angry?”

“Yeah, and god, I want him to know how that feels, I’m so fucking pissed,” she mutters, gesturing to the venue behind them. “We spent so much fucking money on this shit, we bought the dress, paid for the venue, his family paid for the reception, and then he does this shit? Honestly, I just want to make him suffer, take his ego down a peg or two. No one should be fucking smirking when they abandon someone at the aisle.”

Ben’s mouth falls open. “Yours smirked  _ too? _ ”

She laughs, a deep, melodic sound that matches the rest of her voice, that almost sounds like a song. “Yeah! He fucking smirked! Wasn’t even sorry about what he’d done! Like a fucking asshole!”

“He sounds like a fucking asshole,” Ben mutters, then he shifts down, crawling awkwardly until he’s sitting on the same step as she is, but still keeping his distance in case she doesn’t want anyone close right now. Luckily, she doesn’t push him away; in fact, she scoots closer. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, too,” she admits, then she holds out her hand. “I’m Rey, by the way.”

He shakes it, surprised by how firm her grip is. “I’m Ben,” he tells her, then he lets go of her hand, wishing he were still holding onto it as he turns his gaze to the waves lapping at the shore in front of them. “What a shitty way to meet a person.”

A tiny snort escapes her, but she shrugs as she steals his vision again. “I can’t disagree with you there.” Then she looks him up and down, her gaze almost appreciative as she gives him a once over. “You look nice, by the way, shame about the money you wasted on the tux.”

“Oh god, I’m sure that dress cost a fortune.”

“It did.”

“For what it’s worth, you look incredibly beautiful.”

A blush creeps up her cheeks, coloring them a pretty pink he’s never seen on anyone else as she looks down at the ground. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he replies, and he can feel his face growing hot as he runs his hand through the dark waves of his hair. “You’re probably the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen. What kind of moron were you about to marry?”

“Some insignificant ginger fuck who wasn’t half bad in bed and supposedly loved me.” Her monotone voice causes him to chuckle lightly as he props his head up in the palm of his hand, and allows himself to stare at her as the conversation picks up. “I hope this doesn’t sound weird, but I think I already like you better than I liked him. You’re sweet.”

He blushes, but no, it’s not weird, he knows what she means. The man who’d just left her clearly didn’t love or appreciate her enough, and the one sitting beside her has just been kind. “So are you.”

“This is one hell of a bonding experience, isn’t it?” she asks, shifting a touch closer to him as they talk. “Wish I’d met you some other way.”

Ben can’t help the way his smile becomes more broad. They’ve only just met, but there’s already a flirty rapport between them, and given the way they’re dressed, he can’t help but think they look  _ right  _ together, that they  _ fit _ . There’s something about the two of them that just strikes him as perfect, as fate, as kismet, and it’s so early, it’s so faint and distant, but there are the first embers of a fire burning in the space between them, and he has no clue how this flame will burn. “Wish I’d met you some other way, too,” he says almost mournfully, then he looks back at the venue, where he can hear the distant sounds of his mother giving Bazine’s a piece of her mind, and remembers he’s got a duty of cleaning up the mess his ex-fiancé has created. “I should go in and fix this, thank everyone for coming, and go home and eat some fucking ice cream or some shit.”

“Dude,  _ fuck  _ ice cream, order a pizza, binge out tonight and then go on your honeymoon by yourself and enjoy life without her.”

Ben is the one who snorts this time. “We were gonna go to Hawaii. I know that sounds cheesy, but I’ve always loved the volcanoes and—well—it’s beautiful.” He gently taps her arm with the back of his hand. “Where were you gonna go?”

She shakes her head. “We were gonna go to Bali next week. Neither of us could get the time off beyond tonight from work, so…” she shrugs, but he perks up, suddenly struck with an idea. 

“What if we went together?” he asks, then before she can laugh, he turns to face her. “I’m serious. Mine’s paid for, I’m only going for five days, my flight leaves tomorrow and now there’s a free ticket. I’m assuming yours is the same?”

“Yeah, yeah it is.” Realization begins to dawn on her face. “God, could you imagine the looks on their faces when they see pictures of us in paradise? I know Armitage would be  _ livid _ .”

“Bazine would throw a fit,” he assures her, then he blinks as another idea forms in his mind. “Maybe we should also attend our receptions, too, just to rub salt in the wound.”

Rey is full blown grinning now, and she rests a hand on the crook of his elbow, leaning in as if they’re sharing some sort of secret. Perhaps they are. “We should. Mine’s at a little house off Pine street, where’s yours?”

“That beach right there,” he tells her, then he watches as she stares at it contentedly, daydreams floating in front of her eyes. “What do you say we divvy up a bit of time between each one?”

“Nah, let’s just use yours. His family paid for my reception, let him suffer.”

“Deal,” he says, then he pauses and so does she, and they fall into a brief silence in which they’re both definitely thinking the same thing, but are also uncertain whether they’re thinking the same thing. It’s a mad thing they’re thinking, but they also know that they’ve been talking through the steps of a wedding in reverse; they’ve been planning one backwards ever since they brought up honeymoons, and if they’re being honest, this has always been where this conversation was going. 

But it is absolutely insane. Marrying someone he’s just met? They have to be careful about this. They have to treat this very delicately, because as nice as their chemistry seems after these five minutes, as much as  _ she  _ seems like some beautiful trick of fate and destiny, this could all end in tragedy. Still, his gut is telling him this is right, and the thought of marrying Rey already feels a lot more like a good decision than marrying Bazine ever did. 

He’s gonna ask her, but she beats him to it. “Do you want to get married?” she asks, and his heart stops, because  _ where has she been all his life? _ “You know, to spite our exes? And cause you seem… I don’t know, you seem like you’re a half-decent person.”

“You don’t seem half bad yourself.”

“Thanks.”

“And this sounds like a great idea, and while I know we could technically end things fairly easy if we realize we don’t like each other, I feel like we should at least ask some basic questions first,” he says, watching her face for any sign of a negative reaction that could be a red flag. 

She gives him none. “Ask away.”

“Okay, let's start with the basics; I’m gonna assume neither of us is a bigot?” God, if she reveals herself to be an asshole, he’ll have a stroke. 

“Oh fuck no.” She seems to shudder at the thought. “I’m assuming you’re not either?”

“God no,” he replies, then he clears his throat. “Okay, um… what’s another ground rule?”

“Do you like pineapple on pizza?”

“I love it. You?”

“It’s the best thing man has ever invented.”

_ Fuck.  _ Where has she  _ been  _ all his life? “I’m gonna jump in with a more serious one, because I know we’re not romantically involved yet, but I still want to set this straight before we jump into this.”

“Hit me with it.”

“Do you want kids?”

Luckily, she doesn’t hesitate to answer, nor does she seem uncomfortable with the question. “I haven’t really given that much thought if I’m being honest. I’ve always just thought of that as something of if I want to do it, then sure, why not, but I want to pay off my fucking student loans first.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ve never really given it much thought either, but it’s generally been a maybe.” He shrugs, then he runs his hand through his hair again. “But again, we don’t know if we’re gonna fall in love yet, or get to that point.”

“I don’t know, you like pineapple on pizza and you’re not an asshole, I might be in love with you already,” she admits. “You’ve got taste.”

That brings another thought to his head. “What kind of music do you like?”

“I’m on a bit of a grunge kick at the moment. You?”

“I’m a bit more seventies rock. You know, Pink Floyd and shit,” he says, then another, more serious question pops into his head. “Did you want to change your last name? I’m good with hyphenating both of them, if you want.”

“Let’s do it. Mine’s Kanata.”

“Mine’s Solo.”

“Not for much longer, mate,” she assures him, her accent thicker here than ever as she gives him an almost playful tap on the shoulder with the back of her hand. 

The two of them share another round of comfortable, almost jubilant laughter, then before he can ask her another question, the venue door creaks on its hinges, and out pops the head of his best man, his eyes searching for a minute before they land on what they’re looking for. 

Poe Dameron’s face lights up some, but significantly less than it usually does as he finds his friend’s eyes. “Hey, Ben, can you get in here? Everyone’s wondering what you plan to do about the reception.”

His timing is actually perfect. He and Rey both know that anything they’re asking each other now can just be addressed later, because they can just annul this fairly easily as long as they never tie their assets together. Once this wedding is over, they’ll take this slow, they’ll take their time learning one another and seeing if they can actually fall in love. He’s certain he’s fallen in love with her at first sight, but if they’re going to do this properly, they’re going to have to move slowly. Maybe they’ll consummate their marriage tonight, but in terms of moving in together and the more serious shit, he wants to take his time. 

To love Rey properly would be the biggest slap in the face to both of their former partners. He can think of no sweeter revenge than this. 

It is with their plan in mind that he turns cheekily to Poe, and gestures casually to Rey. “We’ve decided to just have it on the beach,” he says, and she begins to laugh again, her hand coming over her mouth as she realizes what he’s doing, and again it feels as though they’re sharing a secret. 

This time, they are. 

“We?” Poe asks, sounding bewildered, then he looks at Rey, observes how she’s dressed, and he blinks his disbelief. “ _ We?” _

“This is Rey,” he says, then he pushes himself to his feet, and holds out a hand for hers. She shakes her head, smiling as she looks at him, then she takes his hand, allowing him to pull her to his feet. “She’s in the same boat.”

“The same…?”

Rey glances up at Ben as he tries to find the words to explain what’s going on, then she taps his chest a couple of times with one hand, and climbs up a couple of steps to greet Poe, holding out her hand for him to shake. “Hi, I’m Rey, I’ve also been abandoned at the altar.”

“Oh?” Poe’s voice still sounds thoroughly shocked as he shakes her hand, then looks between the two of them. “And?”

“And so we both decided we’re fucking pissed, we spent a ton of money on weddings that aren’t going to happen, and that shouldn’t all go to waste, so—“

Ben finally finds his voice in that moment. “We’re getting married,” he tells Poe. “We need to get in there, combine the guests somehow and…” He glances at Rey again, and though it makes his heart race to do so, he reaches for her hand, and finds himself surprised by how warm it is. His whole body visibly shudders slightly when she then laces her fingers through with his, and runs her thumb over the back of his knuckles. “And have a wedding, like we promised them.”

Poe nods slowly, then he claps his hands together, thinking for a moment before he points between them both. “This is absolutely insane, but I think it’s brilliant,” he says, then he points a thumb in the direction of their venue. “Ben? You and I can get in there and talk to our people. Rey? You get in there and—“

“I know, talk to mine,” she replies, and she and Poe smile at one another, then those smiles are also directed at him, and he knows all three of them are now in on the secret. She squeezes Ben’s hand one more time, then she lets go, and climbs up the steps, giving him one last, quick wink before she grins at both men. “Let’s have a wedding.”

*

It takes them half an hour to get everything together. Ben’s parents both seem to be on the verge of a stroke when he tells them he’s marrying someone he’s only just met, but they soon come around, especially when Poe steps in to help. Together, he, his best friend, and his parents work with Rey, her adoptive mother, Maz, and her wedding party—which only consists of two people, her maid of honor, Rose, and a man, Finn, who both whoop with laughter when they realize what’s happening—to corral all their guests. 

Most of Rey and Ben’s families and friends decide to stay, as well as a few stragglers just looking for a party or a story from Bazine and Armitage’s respective guests, and they decide to move everyone into Rey’s section of the venue, since she brought fewer guests and it has more room. Seating arrangements are chosen by each guest, and once everyone’s settled, they move on to figuring out everything else. 

Namely, who’s going to marry them. 

Rey had initially hired someone to officiate her ceremony, but he’d left as soon as they’d told people they could leave if they wanted to, and so they were left using Ben’s uncle Lando, which had actually made him rather thrilled. He’d wanted to have a familial touch at this wedding, and now he was going to get it. 

Since Lando was making a phone call outside when they’d started making the plan to do this whole mad wedding, the first time his uncle would be meeting the woman he’d be marrying would be when they walked down the aisle. 

“Final check,” he says to Rey as they both pace anxiously in the lobby struggling to accept that this is really happening, that it’s not just some fantasy they’ve dreamt up. “Just us walking down the aisle, no one else?”

“Check,” she says, sparing a glance inside the open door leading into the venue, where their friends and family are taking their seats, preparing for the real wedding. Instead of having their family walk them down the aisle, they’re doing it together. Everything else about this wedding has been different thus far, and they need to learn how to work together as a couple. “Your uncle officiating?”

He nods. “Check.”

“Ready to raise a little hell?”

He can’t stop the grin that breaks out on his face. “Born ready,” he says, then he holds out his arm for her, and she loops one of hers through it, smiling right back at him as they both laugh at the absurdity of it all. They’ve only just met, but they’re already agreeing to a life together—already marrying to spite the people who’d just abandoned them. 

It’s absolute insanity, but he knows it’s worth it. He knows it’s  _ right.  _

“Let’s walk,” she replies, then the two of them walk toward the doors, each reaching out to push one open as they enter their venue, and the guests all turn to watch the unlikely couple as they venture down the aisle. 

There’s no great fanfare while they’re walking. In the background, someone who’d been hired to play guitar during the ceremony accompanies their walk, but mostly they do it in silence, holding on to one another for strength. His other hand comes up to rest over the one she has gripping his arm, and she twists her fingers to lace them through his, grounding him as his heart begins to race. 

“You don’t want to back out?” he asks her when they’re about halfway down. “Last chance.”

“No. Do you?” She almost looks scared as she stares up at him, and he realizes she’s just as afraid of being abandoned at the aisle again so soon as he is. 

“No.” 

“Good,” she replies, then they resume their walk at a normal pace, picking it up slightly as they reach the altar. “Let’s do this.”

She feels warmer than usual—but he’s not sure just what her usual is, and they’ve only just touched for the first time a few minutes ago—as they reach the end of the aisle, and his uncle is smiling at them warmly as he and Rey approach, then let go of one another to stand as a bride and groom were meant to in front of their guests. 

His uncle begins the “Friends we are gathered here today,” speech as he and Rey join hands, and prepare to say their vows. Neither of them speaks, but he feels as if they’re having some kind of conversation as they stare at one another, as they await the cues for what they’re supposed to say. 

Eventually, he breaks briefly from his silent conversation with her when his uncle calls for the ring bearer to come forth, and present them with the rings. Instead of tradition, though, they’ve both had their best men come forth to give them their rings. Finn presents him with a silver band to slip onto her finger, while Poe gives her a golden one to slip onto his. One day they’ll have to get their own, but these will do for now. He wants something to give her, after all, something to signify that they are indeed married until they can find a suitable replacement. Perhaps they’ll find one while they’re off on the honeymoon.

Once they’re handed the rings, Lando continues guiding them through the traditional vows, and he knows the whole wedding is out of order and chaotic, but he doesn’t care. It’s the most thrilling thing he’s ever done in his life, and as he slips the silver band onto her finger, as she slips the gold one onto his, he knows that when they replace these rings with others, they’ll have to get a mismatched set. It fits them, it suits them perfectly, because they weren’t supposed to be together, and yet they were. 

“And so without further adieu,,” Lando says, bringing him back to reality as he gestures between Ben and Rey. “If you’ve prepared your vows, say them now.”

His eyes go wide as he realizes one thing they’ve forgotten. He’d written vows over the last few weeks, sure, but they’d been meant for someone else. They weren’t intended for her, and he couldn’t just recycle what he was going to say to Bazine to Rey, she deserved better than that. He was going to have to make something up on the fly, and improv had never been his strong suit. “Okay, so… you want to start, or should I?”

She laughs. “You can go, I could use a couple more seconds to bullshit my way through this,” she says, and their audience gives a chuckle in response. 

“Shit, maybe we were made for each other,” he mutters, because he’d been thinking the exact same thing. “But sure. I’ll start.” He takes a deep breath as he tries to figure out what to say, several seconds ticking by before it finally comes to them. “So, we’ve just met. Half an hour ago, you were a stranger, but…” He shrugs, then he looks out over their audience, catching the still stunned, but slightly mischievous eyes of his parents as he speaks. “I don’t know, weirdly enough, I can see this working. I know I at least like you, and that’s gotta count for something. We’re doing this in the complete wrong order, but somehow… I feel that this break in tradition is… I feel like it’s right. So, hello, stranger, this is going to be the shortest speech ever, but given how long we’ve known each other, I think it’s fitting.” 

“I feel it, too,” she says, then she grips his hands a little more firmly. “This could be a mistake, possibly the biggest one of my life, but I have a feeling it’s not. Marrying the man who left me here earlier tonight would’ve been a bigger one, that much is clear, but you? You like pineapples on your pizza and you’re sweet, and that’s good enough for me.”

“That’s good enough for me, too,” he says, then he shakes his head. “Lando, you’ve got the floor.” 

His uncle blinks a few times, then gives an amused chuckle, like he’s aware of exactly how insane this is. He’s probably more aware of it than Ben and Rey are. “Well, if you’ve both said your pieces, then… Ben, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

Ben laughs one more time, looking down at Rey as he squeezes her hands once more. “This is absolutely insane, you know.”

She nods. “Oh, I’m very much aware.”

“But I do,” he breathes, then he can’t stop himself from repeating it over and over, “I do, I do, I do.”

The audience and Lando manage another round of laughter at this, then his uncle gestures to Rey. “And do you, Rey, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

A breathless laugh escapes her, then she runs her thumb over the back of his knuckles. “I do,” she says, then she gives a tiny huff of air before she moves a little closer. “I really do.”

“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Florida and the Internet—“ More laughter ensues from both the audience and the couple at the altar at this. “—I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.”

Both of them freeze for a second, realizing they hadn’t discussed whether they wanted to share a kiss here or not, but he slowly realizes as his eyes drift down to her lips that he  _ does  _ want to kiss her. He wants to kiss her very badly. Her lips are a soft, rosy shade of pink that highlights every quiver they make as she seems to quarrel with the urge to ask him if this is what he wants. She’s looking at his lips, too. He knows she is by the way her eyes are hooded when he looks back up at them, and he realizes she wants to kiss him as badly as he wants to kiss her. 

“Rey?” he asks softly, then he swallows nervously as he lowers his voice further. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” she whispers back, then he feels himself begin to tremble as he prepares to do it, as he begins to lean down to close the distance between them. 

To his surprise, she strikes first. Rey lets go of his hands to take his jaw into both of hers, and as if that doesn’t shock him enough, she uses this new position to pull him to her, to bring his lips to hers in a kiss that shakes his entire being. It makes him feel like music is swelling in the background as he kisses her, as he wraps an arm around her waist, his palm splaying out over the textured fabric of her dress as he pulls her closer, as he pulls her into him. 

This can’t last forever, it’s their wedding kiss, the only one they’ll share in front of this many people, but it feels good—it feels better than anything he’s ever felt, and he’s only just met her. Ben’s always thought love at first sight was a lie, but maybe it isn’t, maybe he just had to see the right person. 

Maybe Rey is the right person. 

When the audience starts clapping, they pull apart, taking it as their cue that they’ve been at it for too long when they hear that sound, and they just stand there for a moment, looking at each other. His wife seems as dazed as he is, just as dizzy and lost to daydreams of what could be, and it occurs to him in that moment that she  _ is _ his wife, that they’re now married. 

His heart begins racing all over again, and every word he knows escapes him as he breathes shakily. “Hi,” he breathes, causing her to smile as she giggles softly, then leans into him, the two falling effortlessly into their first embrace as they stand at the altar. 

“Hi,” she replies, then she pulls back slightly, just enough to look at him as she gives him a bewildered look. “We’re married.”

“I know.”

The air leaves her lungs in a pitchy rush, then she nods slowly. “I guess we should celebrate.”

“Guess so,” he says, then he steps back, and offers her his hand, waiting for her to take it before he speaks again. “Mrs. Kanata-Solo, would you care to join me for a reception?”

“Why, I would, Mr, Kanata-Solo,” she assures him, then with another shared grin, the two of them step down off the altar, and begin walking back down the aisle to commence the celebration of their wedding. 


	2. Reception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may end up being four chapters, we'll see. Thanks so much to everyone who's read so far!

It’s going brilliantly. At least, he thinks it’s going brilliantly; there’s laughter and no one’s crying or giving him and his unexpected new wife disdainful looks. If they are, he’s oblivious to it, he’s too busy talking with both of their families, who seem to find this whole thing hilarious. 

He can tell his father instantly likes Rey from the way he laughs at every joke or comic jab she makes. His eyes light up every time she tells him a new story, and he keeps looking over at his son with the words, “she’s a keeper,” written in his eyes. There’s a hint of wariness he clearly feels toward their snap judgment call, but overall it’s obvious that he doesn’t mind it. It’s obvious that he likes her, that he doesn’t mind the idea of having her in his life forever, and it makes his heart swell with pride. 

Han has shown her more affection than he ever showed Bazine. 

The same thing clearly applies to his mother as they talk. She’s also lighting up in the same way as his father is. Leia is a bit more hesitant at first, but she has always been protective of her son. After just a few minutes of conversation—and learning that Rey works closely with the EPA, the same agency she also works with as a state senator—she’s wrapped around Rey’s pinky, and Ben realizes, much to his surprise and delight, that his bride is one of the most charming people he’s ever met. 

Leia talks her ear off for what feels like forever, but eventually, her brother cuts in, and though he and Luke only speak at family events and holidays, he starts to become aware that Rey has charmed him, too, and he’ll be seeing him more often. Like his twin, his uncle is also hesitant, but his lack of trust stems more from being a social recluse than anything else. She bonds with him over a shared love of Tae Keon Do, something they both do in their spare time, and somehow, he’s smiling. 

Somehow, they all are. 

His nerves are at an all-time high as Rey introduces him to her mother—properly, not in the rushed way they’d all met just before the ceremony—and though Maz Kanata is a solid four foot two, she scares the living daylights out of him. Ben leaves the encounter knowing without a shadow of doubt that her promise to gut him slowly with a butter knife if he ever hurts her is going to haunt his nightmares until the day he dies. 

Still, he can tell she likes him in spite of how awkwardly he handles their first interaction. Maybe she’s more charmed by his father than she is by him, or maybe his introversion is oddly endearing, but something just  _ clicks,  _ and the two manage to get along swimmingly even if they have to shout to hear each other over the DJ playing a song with the most powerful bass he’s ever heard. 

He swears he can feel that baseline in his soul, and as he looks at his wife, he knows she can, too. 

It’s this song that makes them both realize the DJ he’s hired for this reception has no clue what to play for their first dance. He’d picked a song with Bazine—some Ed Sheeran song he doesn’t want to think the name of—and he knows they can’t use that now. 

The realization leaves him and Rey gaping at each other as they non verbally try to figure out what to do. After a few seconds, they nod, turn to their families, and excuse themselves to walk off to the corner and figure it out. His heart is racing the whole time they walk across the sand, grains melting underneath their bared feet as they walk in the direction of the most orange sunset he’s ever seen, and come to a stop just outside of the perimeter of their reception. 

“What the hell do we do?” he asks, hoping he sounds calmer than he is. This wedding is already going so far off-book, it shouldn’t even matter to him by now, but it does. “Every song I’ve ever heard just left my brain.”

Rey shrugs, then scratches her head, adjusting her veil as she does so. “I’m honestly not sure. All I can think of is  _ Call Me Maybe  _ and that’s just cause of that one ‘hey, I just met you,’ line,” she admits, and they both laugh, their nerves slightly less jangled in the aftermath. 

“That’s definitely not a slow dance.”

“But it works, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want our first dance to be to fucking  _ Call Me Maybe. _ ”

“What do you have in mind, then?”

He’s still panicking a little as he tries to rack his brain for ideas. “Bruno Mars?  _ Marry You? _ ”

She snorts at this and smacks his chest with her palm, but he can tell she wants to laugh so hard she cries. “Funny, but also not a slow dance. You should know I’m a terrible dancer, I can’t do anything fast-paced.”

“Oh thank fuck, so am I,” he replies, only becoming more convinced that this woman is his soulmate. “I may be the worst dancer you’ve ever seen.”

Her smile makes the sun rise again as she takes his hand, then leads him over to a nearby bench so they can sit down while they talk. A gentle breeze stirs them both, ruffling her skirts and brushing the hair from her shoulders as she looks at him, then laces their fingers together. “Maybe something classic then,  _ Can’t Help Falling in Love?  _ Elvis?”

“That sounds so cheesy,” he says, even though he really loves the idea. It sounds charming, the whole idea of being unable to help falling for someone the way he can’t control his undeniable fall for her. He can feel himself spiraling downward with every second, and it’s not something he’d ever thought he’d feel. “But I love it.”

“You sure?”

“We can always google some good wedding songs if you want.”

“... let’s do that. Just to be sure.”

They share another smile as he pulls his phone out of his pocket, then they lean into each other as he googles “top wedding songs,” and the two of them search for the song that will ring in their marriage. 

It amazes him how quickly they’re growing comfortable with one another. Already there’s these little touches and gestures and smiles that have his heart racing in his chest, that have him feeling warm even as the breeze off the ocean tries to cool him down. He feels content with her, like he won’t ever stop smiling and he’ll be frozen with these stupid dimples on his face. 

They look through a thousand pop songs—well, more like fifteen, but still— before they stumble on a new list of romantic songs from Disney movies. Both of their eyebrows perk up at this, and as he looks at her, he knows they’ve found the list for them as he clicks on it, and the first thing that pops up is  _ So this is Love  _ from  _ Cinderella.  _

“What do you think?” he asks, showing her the song title, and watching her face as it lights up. “You a Disney fan?”

“I personally loved Aladdin, but this is fantastic,” she replies, then her thumb runs over his from where their fingers are still laced together. “And perfect for our situation.”

It takes him a second to register her words, and when he does, a double-take happens, and he blinks at her as his jaw falls ajar. Realization dawns on him that she’s feeling something too; that she knows something is brewing here between them, and she wants the exact same thing he does. She’s eager to explore whatever connection they have, whatever it is that’s starting to grow roots in the ground, holding them both to the spot as their eyes lock on one another. 

Swallowing nervously, Ben leans a little closer to her, moving inch by inch as he tries to gauge whether she wants him to back away or not. Luckily, she doesn’t, and instead Rey meets him in the middle, instead, her eyes begin to drift shut, making him realize it’s okay to close his as their lips come together in their second kiss. 

This one’s softer, sweeter, and much, much slower already. They move at a pace that acts as if they have all the time in the world and they don’t have to be back at their reception in just a few minutes. It makes him feel warm and light-headed, and the light of the dying sun only adds to this feeling as it bathes them in a pink-orange hue. 

He feels like he’s glowing, like he’s beaming light in all directions as he lets his phone fall to the bench, and his other hand comes up to cup her jaw. Hers slips beneath the fabric of his jacket, pushing it aside as she wraps her arm around his waist, and pulls him a little bit closer, her lips coming together with his in featherlight touches that drive him wild, that make him yearn for more. 

There’s heat slowly blossoming in his gut as he deepens the kiss, his hand shifting back so that his fingers are weaving through her hair, and the tips of them brush against the thin fabric of her veil. Waves crash in the background, and it combined with the wind brushing past their ears sets a rhythm as it picks up in intensity, as he kisses her like it’s his last day on this Earth, and suddenly—

A sharp pain pricks his finger as his hand shifts up to hold her even closer, and he realizes as he pulls away that he’s struck the pin keeping her veil in place, that he’s brushed against a comb fixture of sorts that’s pinned into her hair, and though the pain is already fading, he’s cursing the damned thing for interrupting the best kiss of his life. 

Rey gives him a tiny giggle as she pulls her hand away from his waist, and he mourns the loss of its warmth as he watches her. She lets go of his hand, too, and it’s all he can do to keep breathing as he watches her reach back and remove the veil from her hair. His eyes are on her the entire time, taking to memory every single thing she does as she stands up, and holds the fabric out into the air. “He’s the one who suggested that I wear a veil instead of a flower crown,” she tells him, then she waits a few more seconds for the wind to pick up, and the lengthy veil stretches out into the open air, fluttering like a glamorous white flag before she lets it go, and the damn thing drifts off into the breeze.

“Why’d you do that?” he asks. “It was nice, could’ve bought us drinks for Bali.”

With another shake of her head, Rey walks back over to him, now veilless, the free strands of hair on the back of her head drifting about in the wind as she holds out her hand, and waits for him to take it. “It ruined a damn good kiss, it needed to be gone,” she assures him, then she pulls him up, and takes his arms in her hands. “But maybe it was supposed to, I think our guests will kill us if we don’t return to the wedding.”

A groan escapes him as her hands slip down to take his, as one lets go and she begins to guide him back down the beach, their feet—her dress— dragging through the sand as they look down at one another, walking toward their friends and family with hopes that the rest of this marriage will go as smoothly as the beginning is. 

*

When the dance finally begins, he’s not ready for it. They make their request to the DJ, they clear the floor—well, their section of beach—and they stand in the middle ready for the swell of violins to begin. He feels hot, his palms feel clammy, and he doesn’t know what to do because he’s practiced this dance so many times with the wrong partner, he’s unsure how he’s going to do it now, but he has to. This is the person he knows he was meant to share this dance with, all he has to do is take her hand. 

His wife, however, knows how nervous he is, and so she takes initiative herself, she takes his hand, puts hers at his shoulder, lets his wrap around her waist as he springs to action to pull her close. “Just look at me,” she tells him, squeezing his shoulder as the DJ begins the final preparations to play their song. “I’m nervous, too.”

“You want to pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist and dance with me?” he asks, then as she laughs, the music begins to play, and in the firelight that’s flickering off torches that surround the dance floor, he sees embers in her eyes. 

It feels like something out of the movie he’d watched as a child, and given the dress she’s wearing, the tuxedo that  _ he  _ has on, it looks like it, too. He can practically feel the magic floating in the air around them, it makes him feel like he’s got his own personal fairy godmother, but this spell will last long past the stroke of midnight. 

The waves of the ocean crash in the background almost in time with the music, and Ben swears the rest of the world actually disappears as they whirl about on the sand. The wind is sweeping her skirts and their hair into disarray, but all he can see as they dance is stars surrounding her like a halo. Everything else becomes a blur he’s forgotten about.

Everything but Rey. 

“So what’s your job?” she asks, fingers melding with his as he spins her around, then pulls her back in. “What do you do when you’re not asking random strangers to marry you?”

“If I recall correctly, it was  _ you  _ who made the proposal.”

“A proposal which you agreed to.”

The light-hearted argument has him grinning, then he pulls her in a little closer. “I’m a chemist. I work at a university downtown, help operate a lab.”

“And so he’s smart,” she teases, then she pulls him a little closer, the expression on her face growing more serious. “What made you choose today to get married?”

_ Fuck,  _ he has no idea how to answer that one. “I don’t know.” It had felt… right. When he’d been planning this whole affair with Bazine, the one thing that had felt like it was perfect, like it was a puzzle piece falling into place above all else had been the date of their wedding. That had been the only thing that had felt right in hindsight; everything else was just a red flag of arguments and prayers that it would get better. “I just picked it. And you?”

She freezes just like he had, her breath catching in her throat as she has the same realization that her decision to get married on this day at this time had been a thing of fate just like his. A soft giggle falls from her lips, then she leans in a little closer to him. “Yeah, me too.”

It feels effortless when he leans down and presses his forehead against hers. A part of him wonders if the people looking on at them—at these strangers who have known each other for a grand total of two hours—think they’re rushing too fast, if they think that it’s odd that they’re this close when they’ve only just met and know very little about one another. They currently exist on another plane, but he wonders about them nonetheless, wonders if they know that falling for someone at first sight is, in fact, a real thing, and he’s only going to fall deeper the more they get to know each other. 

“How much longer do you want to stay?” he asks her after a while, but he doesn’t pull away, he just holds her close and prays she agrees with the thought that’s formed in his head—

The thought that he wants to get to know her outside of this very public reception. 

“I’m good with leaving after this dance if you are.”

“I think Poe would kill me if I left before he made his best man speech.”

“ _ Fuck  _ Poe.”

_ I think I’d rather fuck you instead _ . The thought pops into his head before he can stop it, and he bites his lip to keep from saying it out loud, because he’s not sure if she’s willing to fuck a complete stranger hours after meeting just because she married him. If they have sex tonight, he wants it to go perfectly. 

Fortunately for him, her eyes are drawn to that lip bite, they’re unable to move away from it, and she lets her lips part like she wants to say something, but she doesn’t know what it is. “Where were you planning to stay tonight?” she settles on eventually, and he can hear their song coming to an end in the background—the timing couldn’t possibly be more perfect. 

“I got a hotel room. Paid for. Room service. Check out at eleven tomorrow morning—“

“Sounds delightful, let’s go.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, let’s make as quick an escape as we possibly can and go.”

He’s grinning as the song comes to an end, then they break apart, he takes the hand that’s still in his, and brings it to his lips, kissing her fingers as she watches with heat in her gaze. It’s with this look that he knows something is going to happen tonight, that he can feel the magnitude of what’s going to happen seeming to echo back through time to let him know right here and now that what happens tonight is going to alter the course of his life. After tonight, nothing stands a chance of being the same again, and he doesn’t want it to. 

“Then let’s go,” he replies, and as the circle that had formed around them during the dance folds in on itself and a fast-paced song takes the place of their slow one, they make their escape, his hand in hers as they rush out the door, and off into the world beyond. 

*

He hates valet parking, but since the hotel is one of  _ those  _ places, he’s got no choice but to do it anyway—and to let them take their luggage to deliver it to their rooms. Rey laughs at his misery, but she’s leaning against his arm, and one of her hands is at his back, and as they walk into the elevator, he finds he can’t be mad, he can’t be any degree of angry at all. 

Not as long as she’s with him. 

The doors to the elevator close, and it begins to move, jolting his entire body as it rises at a pace much more rapid than he’s prepared for. He can tell he’s gone pale from the way Rey looks at him as her hand rubs gently against his back, her warm palm sending heat waves throughout his entire body. “Another thing you should know about me,” he says, turning toward her. “I’m absolutely terrified of elevators.”

She snickers softly, then her other hand comes up to caress the base of his skull, her fingers carding through his hair as she looks between his eyes, and shakes her head. “‘I guess I’ll just have to take your mind off it, then,” she whispers, then her lips are on his again, and his back hits the lift wall, the railing lining it digging into his ass as he kisses her back, and he feels the world spin again as they rise up and up and up. 

He’s getting used to this—or rather, he  _ could  _ be getting used to this, he still can’t process it’s real when she kisses him, when she presses her lips to his, and she makes his body feel electric in a way no one ever has. She makes him realize there’s a certain way a person should be kissed, makes him realize he can move in ways he never thought he would want to. His lips part and come together with hers as if they can’t get enough of how soft they are, his teeth tug on her lower lip as she pulls away and it makes his heart start pumping blood through his veins like it’s galloping toward its last beat. Adrenaline is spiking from his brain as it tries to cope with what’s happening, as  _ he  _ tries to cope with what’s happening. 

It’s raw, intense, extreme, but also very sweet, and sensual in a way he hadn’t thought possible. The kiss is rough, sexual in its energy, but carries an undercurrent of something tender as one of her hands slides down to rest on his chest, and her fingers grip the lapel of his jacket. 

He knows she can feel his heartbeat as she kisses him, and before he can stop himself, he’s doing the same thing. One of his hands comes up between them, skimming up over the microscopic beads on the bodice of her wedding gown to make its way to the center of her chest. Where the gown plunges deep beneath the valley of her breasts, he splays his fingers out over the ridges of her sternum, and he can feel hers beating, too. 

Rey’s heart is beating at a speed that can’t be healthy, just like his. It pounds against his fingers, and he swears he can hear it as her tongue finds his, as they become so thoroughly entangled in one another, it’s a wonder they’re not already having sex in this elevator.

As if brought about by the cue of his thoughts, the lift dings its arrival on their floor, and Rey slowly pulls away from him, leaving him a panting—almost  _ whimpering  _ from her loss—mess against the wall. The doors begin to open, but he’s too shaken up—in the best possible way—to notice. All he can think about is how that made him feel, how each kiss they share seems to grow in intensity, and it terrifies and excites him. 

They walk out of the elevator together, and without even meaning to, his hand reaches out and finds hers, laces their fingers, and begins to swing their now joined arms between them. She laughs endearingly at him as he reaches into his pocket for the key they’d been given, and searches the hall for their room. “Was that distracting enough?” she asks, quirking an eyebrow at him as she speaks. 

He smiles sheepishly as he looks at the ground, then he gives her a nod. “Yeah, yeah it was,” he replies as they reach their room, which is thankfully not a long way down the hall, and emerges after they pass only four others. “Thank you.”

“You always been scared of elevators or were you just nervous about being alone with me?”

He chuckles softly as he opens the door, then pockets the key in his blazer as he nods. “A little bit of both, I think.” Then he steps inside, leading his new wife into their hotel room before he grabs the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign—in all caps, of course—from off the interior of the door and places it on the outside. “I wonder how long it’ll be before my mother realizes I’ve snuck away from the wedding before she could have a mother-son dance with me and calls me to chew my ear off.”

Rey snorts quietly as she shuts the door behind them, then he hears the sound of heavy objects clunking behind him, and sees that she’s decreased in height since he last looked at her. The shoes she was wearing are now resting casually by the dresser that’s waiting for their clothes, holding up the tv that’s prepared with Netflix he knows they won’t spend a second watching. “I think you need to shut off notifications for your phone, and we need to start really getting to know one another.”

There’s an edge to her voice when she says that, and it makes his entire body feel heated again as he realizes what this is now. They’ve reached their wedding night, they’re married, they’re in a hotel—a nice one, and she’s just kissed him so hard he’d seen stars. “Getting to know one another?” he asks, stepping a bit closer to her, trying to find where the hell his confidence has gone. 

“Yeah,” she replies, reaching behind herself, then he shivers as he hears the telltale sign of a zipper going down a few inches before she stops, and a brief look of horror flickers across his face. “Unless you don’t want to.”   


He scoffs. “Are you kidding? We got married to spite our exes and had the reception for the same reason.” Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he steps forward, and wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her close as his fingers search for the zipper of her dress. “I think we should definitely get to know each other a little better,” he tells her as he slides it all the way down.

This time she’s the one who gasps as he leans in, and kisses her, using the hand that’s at her back to bring her against him as his head spins anew. She hums against him as she returns his kiss, and he feels that electricity build up in his veins again as he skims his hand up the smooth skin of her arm, as he makes his way up to her shoulder where the strap of her gown is just waiting for him to remove it. The fabric scratches at his skin as his fingers grasp it, then he begins to slide it off of one shoulder, then he does the same to the other.

Once they’re both off of his shoulders, Ben pulls away from her lips, and begins pressing his everywhere. His mouth is on her neck, earning him breathy little moans as she reaches up, and threads her hands into his hair and holds on like he’s her lifeline. 

Little does she know she’s his as well. 

His hands come around to her hips, supporting them both as his kisses descend to her collarbone, but he doesn’t pull down the fabric of her dress, not yet. Instead, he just kisses between her breasts, over the fabric of her dress, over her stomach, and she shakes as he finally gets down on his knees completely, and that’s when he starts pulling the dress down. 

That’s when he whispers, “We need to get you out of these clothes,” to her and she shivers for a half-second before she lets him do exactly that, removing her gown until she’s in nothing but her under-things, until all that’s on her is the pasties covering her nipples and the white lace of her underwear, then she kicks the dress, her thick skirts, into oblivion beside them before she uses the grip she has in his hair to pull him closer.

Ben responds by pressing his lips against the angle of her right hip, but before he can leave another, she laughs at him, and adjust the grip of her fingers in his hair. “I could say the same thing to you,” she replies, then he’s the one who’s trembling as he kneels before her, as he sits panting in front of her, ready for whatever she hands him. 

As their wedding night properly begins. 


	3. Wedding Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi chapter count went up cause I realized there was no way I was fitting their wedding night and honeymoon into one chapter so yo 🙌

The ability to maintain a single, coherent thought is lost to him. He’s not himself anymore, he’s floating above his body watching this all happen to someone else. This goes on for a few seconds as he lets his fingers wander beneath the lace of her underwear, his whole body trembling as she strokes his hair, as she watches him do it. 

That’s when it occurs to him that if he’s going to do this to her while she’s standing, he needs her to have some kind of support, she needs to be against the wall. Taking a deep breath, he gestures to the nearest one, right next to the closet that’s waiting for them to hang up their things, empty hangers swaying slightly as the air conditioning blasts a cool current through the room. “It might be smart to do this against the wall,” he says, and she snorts, but backs up until she’s leaning against it, then she waits for him to scoot forward until he’s on his knees in front of her again. 

“My ex would’ve just prayed that I stayed standing and gone in,” she tells him as he begins kissing her again, shivering when he presses one of his kisses right over the clothed apex of her thighs. “Hell, he wouldn’t have even done it like this in the first place.”

Ben looks up in concern as he begins to slide the lace over her hips, exposing her to the open air. To his credit, he maintains eye contact for a few more seconds as he processes what she’s just told him, as he realizes she’s probably never had this done to her properly. “Did he ever do it?” He presses another, tentative kiss just to the left of where he knows she wants him, one of his hands gliding down to grasp her thigh as he prepares to lift it onto his shoulder. “Did he ever touch you like this?”

Rey gasps as her thigh rests on his shoulder, as she’s completely exposed to him, and a sense of pride swells within him at her reaction, as she shakes her head, and whispers quietly, “Only when I begged.”

Sympathy rushes through him now, and he realizes just how lucky they both got that they’d chosen to marry the wrong people at the same time. “Baz felt the same way. I was more than happy to, but… she always thought it was weird.” He reaches a hand between them, his fingers tracing over her cunt as she breathes heavily. “I should’ve known then that it wasn’t a good match.”

“I can tell you now, I fucking love it.”

The corners of his mouth twitch up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I might just have to do it every night then, you know, to make up for lost time.” He then leans forward, and strokes her clit with his tongue, already living for the way she gasps from his touch. “A lot of lost time.”

“Ben…” she breathes, her hands digging into his hair as he does it again, but this time he reaches further, this time his tongue sweeps just inside her entrance, and she makes the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard. 

So he keeps doing it, his tongue coming out in smooth, slow strokes that are at first experimental, but then he learns that she  _ likes  _ that. She likes the slower, steadier pace that lets her really  _ feel  _ what he’s doing to her, likes that he’s not just fucking her with his tongue but putting time and effort into it. 

She seems to like it even more than he likes tasting her, and he’s learning quickly that Rey is sweeter here than anyone he’s ever met. He’s learning that he isn’t going to grow tired of this, of driving her wild with his mouth, of devouring every moan, gasp, and whisper of his name she offers him as he goes down on her. 

The heel at his back remains a constant presence, but it doesn’t make itself known until Ben ceases his strokes to instead wrap his lips around her clit and suck. That’s when her heel digs into his rib cage, when he hears her head fall back against the wall as she  _ shouts  _ his name—multiple times, which he’s very proud of—followed by a series of quietly whispered swears as she begins shaking with every move he makes. 

Her fingers are gripping his hair so tightly by now that it almost hurts, he’s almost suffering, but in the name of making his wife come apart, so help him god, he will do whatever it takes. So Ben keeps at it, he sucks on her clit with a fervor, he drinks her in like he’s been in the desert for months, and when he begins to press a finger inside of her, she has to slam a palm over her mouth to suppress the shout that’s threatening to erupt from her mouth. 

He briefly stops sucking her clit to resume stroking her with his tongue, swirling it around the bundle of nerves as he holds her steady with his free hand. She’s done an excellent job at standing on her own so far, but with how he’s slowly, steadily been making her come apart, he wonders if she’ll be able to stand when she finally comes on his mouth. 

Fuck, will  _ he  _ be able to stand when she does that?

“Ben,” she breathes as he adds a second finger, then she says it again, her voice a little more pitchy as he sucks her clit back into his mouth. “ _ Ben _ …”

God, he wants to feel her come so bad. His fingers curl inside of her, and she gasps again, pulling at his hair as she warns him she’s close. “Come for me,” he whispers against her, surprising himself with the command, but just this once, he needs it. He needs this. “Rey…”

Then he’s back at her clit, licking and sucking until he hears her give a shuddering moan, and he feels a fluttering around his fingers as she comes with his name on her lips. 

It’s the sexiest thing he’s ever heard, and it’s instantly committed to his memory as something sacred that can never be forgotten. He removes his fingers as she starts to come down from her high, resuming those slow, gentle strokes with his tongue that he’d started earlier. 

Several seconds must’ve gone by, but Ben hardly notices, he is too lost in Rey, too lost in her little noises and the way she is now stroking his hair as her orgasm subsides. He only pauses when he finally decides to move back, shifting her thigh so that it’s no longer on his shoulder before he stands up on wobbly legs, and looks down at his wife’s flushed face. 

“So w-was that…?” He doesn’t even get the words out. She pulls him into another head spinning kiss and his entire world shifts as he wraps his arms around her to keep himself on his feet. 

Rey begins to walk them forward, and he can’t help grinning into the kiss as he catches wind of her intentions. He backs up toward the bed, kissing her the whole time, and only stopping when they collapse onto the mattress, and he can’t help laughing as he looks up at her, watching as she straddles him, as she removes the pasties from her breasts and tosses them aside. When she’s done, she takes his face in her hands, and turns it firmly toward hers. “You’re doing that every day that we’re married, do you hear me?” She kisses him again. “Every.”  _ Kiss.  _ “Single.”  _ Kiss.  _ “Day.”

“Believe me, I’d love to,” he breathes, then she’s reaching for his bow tie, and his head falls back against the mattress limply. “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?” She laughs as she asks the question, as she tosses his bow tie to the side, and then makes her way down the line of buttons on his shirt. “You just made me come harder than anyone has in my entire life, I think  _ I  _ should be thanking  _ you.”  _

He watches as she sits back, then she tugs on the lapels of his jacket to encourage him to sit up. His breath catches as he does so, his hands coming up behind her to assure himself she was real and not just some figment of his imagination. “Rey, you’re my wife, you don’t have to thank me.”

There’s a mischievous glint in her eye as her hands reach down to undo the button of his suit jacket, then they skim up his chest to slide it off of his shoulders. Deciding he doesn’t want to be completely useless, he lets go of the grip he has around her waist to assist her, and shucks his jacket off into the same pile as her dress. She then undoes the remaining buttons of his shirt, and he kicks off his shoes as she descends further down, both of them laughing at how awkwardly they’re fumbling as he removes the shirt and she makes her way down to the buckle keeping his pants in place at his hips. 

Some emotion he can’t read in her eyes makes itself known as she crawls back to remove his trousers, her fingers sinking beneath the waistband, skimming his skin as she begins pulling them down. He lifts his hips from the mattress, both of them crawling further back on the bed as they struggle to get the fancy slacks off of his thighs. At one point, she just stops and laughs to herself, and he can’t help but laugh with her as he watches, then he takes pity on her and kicks them off. 

Both of them have a glint in their eyes that makes apparent all the laughter they’re still holding back, but as Ben begins lowering his boxers over his hips, she stops laughing. Her gaze is drawn to his erection as he frees it, and the shudder that goes through his body has him filled with a renewed sense of pride. Every reaction they have to each other is a new memory he wants to savor the taste of forever. He never wants to forget how this feels, how she looks tonight, how her hands cautiously begin exploring his body as his boxers fall to the ground with the rest of their clothes. 

They both pause once they’re like this, both naked and vulnerable to the other person, and Rey skims a hand down the center of his chest, running her fingers all the way to the center of his abdomen before she runs them back up, like she’s tracing the outline of his shape, learning every single thing she can about his body before they go any further. He thinks he might fall for her a little more for it. 

The sight of her is hypnotic. As she straddles him again, his eyes don’t know where to focus. Should he be looking into her eyes; trying to figure out what’s going on in that impulsively brilliant mind of hers? Should her lips hold his gaze? Her breasts? Hands? Where do his eyes belong?

He skims over every part of her, his hands coming up to support her hips before one makes its way up the front of her body. It begins exploring as she breathes in deeply above him, his thumb skimming over her nipple in a way that makes her shiver as she supports her palms on his chest. 

She interrupts the silence a few seconds later, as his fingers are going back down to her cunt, as they skim over her still sensitive clit. “As nice as this feels…” She leans down to press a kiss to the juncture of his neck and shoulder before she pulls up, and kisses his jaw, whispering her words against the very bones of him. “Can you stop teasing  _ me  _ so I can fuck  _ you _ ?”

A tiny chuckle leaves him, but he nods, watching as she sits back, and takes his cock in her hands. He can feel his whole body trembling as she begins stroking him at an agonizingly slow pace, her hands gentle as she touches him, as she prepares him for what she’s about to do even though he’s harder than he’s ever been. 

“Rey, what about protection?” he asks breathlessly, certain he won’t be able to speak in another two minutes once his cock is sheathed inside of her. 

Luckily for him, she still has some sense left in her, and his wife brushes a strand of hair out of his eyes as she looks down at his face. “I’m on the pill,” she tells him. “Wait we’re both clean, right?”

“Yeah, very,” he promises her.

“Then good,” she whispers, going back in for another kiss as she continues stroking him, and he sees stars in his vision. 

Still, her soft, deft strokes are nothing compared to what she does next; nothing compared to when she pulls back from his lips, and positions him at her entrance. The moment the head of his cock comes in contact with her, his eyes shut involuntarily, even though he knows he wants to watch this very badly. He has to force himself to focus, to concentrate as she slowly lowers herself onto him, and the world stops spinning—it stops revolving around the sun, and time stands still. 

Her breathing shudders in time with his as she takes him in, as she slowly sinks down until he knows she can’t anymore, and her hands once again fall to his chest. Concern fills him when she stays like that for a few seconds, and he places hands over hers as he adjusts their position and sits up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m-im great, Ben, it’s just—“ She looks down, almost as if she’s embarrassed. “You feel good. Really good, and I—“

“Wait so you froze solid just because it feels nice?”

“... yeah, I wanted to enjoy it.”

“Who were you fucking for the last several months? I was honestly going to leave Armitage alone, but now—“

Both of them start laughing, and she buries her face in his neck as she begins to move on top of him, rocking her hips slowly as he does the same, falling in time with her. “Don’t worry, I won’t think about him while I’m fucking you.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

“You have a far nicer cock than he did anyway. Thinking about another man’s dick would be criminal while I’m riding yours,” she says, moving a little bit faster now as she wraps her arms around his neck, her fingers grasping his hair again as she pulls back, and begins kissing his jaw. “The only thing I’m thinking about right now…” She kisses his lips briefly, making fireworks go off in his brain as she does so, then she pulls away. “Is making you come as hard as I just did. I want to make you forget your ex just like I’m forgetting mine.” She then kisses his neck, and he gasps as she sinks a little farther onto his cock. “I want us both to forget, I want us to enjoy this night, our honeymoon, and every single night that comes after.”

He shudders but nods enthusiastically. “I want that too,” he says, bucking his hips up into her, burying himself deeper and causing them both to moan as they move in perfect synchrony.  _ Shit _ , where has she been all his life? They’ve known each other for hours and yet they already seem able to read each other’s minds. They’re already operating on the same wavelength, they love pineapples on pizza, their families get along, and it’s like they’ve known each other for years. 

Ben’s never believed in soulmates until now, but as he looks into her eyes, as he leans forward and kisses her again, he knows that has changed. He now believes that someone in the sea of billions that exists on this planet was meant for him, that he was meant for her in turn. He believes his soulmate might just be Rey, and there’s a slim chance it’s just revelry and they’re just enjoying the feeling of being petty toward the people who have abandoned them, but he knows deep within his gut that it’s not just that. 

There’s a reason he wasn’t upset when Bazine left him, a reason he didn’t cry and she only she’d a tear of frustration, and that reason is that they were made for each other. This realization has him smiling as he adjusts their position again, as he holds her tightly in his arms and turns them over so he’s on top of her, so that he can adjust the angle they’re at—

So that when one of her hands falls to the side on the next thrust, he can reach out with his own and lace his fingers with hers as he thrusts inside of her again. She groans against him, then he kisses her again, he takes his time kissing her, using it as another opportunity to learn how she likes to be kissed, to learn what drives her crazy, what motivates her to go on, and he knows she’s doing the same. 

As the time passes, the rhythm grows faster, then remains steady, explorative and gentle, and he can’t stop smiling as he kisses her, as they roll over again so that she’s on top, rocking against him as they both refrain from breaking the kiss to shout each other’s names. 

This, of course, has varying degrees of success. One of them makes a pitchy noise at some point, and they both break away to laugh as she sinks down onto him again, then buries her face in his neck, peppering more kisses there as he reaches between them and begins to rub her clit with his thumb. When he comes, he wants her to fall over the edge with him. He wants her to be there when it happens, he wants her hand to be in his, her laughter on his lips while they’re kissing through it all, and he wants this night to never come to an end. 

Maybe it has to eventually, maybe he’s going to have to wake up in the morning and it’ll all be over, but right now, he’s living in the moment. And the moment has never been a more beautiful thing. 

“Ben,” she whispers, then he feels her cunt begin to flutter around his cock, and she’s swearing softly against his mouth as her kisses turn sloppy, and she comes on top of him. The feeling that brings him is indescribable. He’s always known some things transcend words, but he’s never believed it could be like this.

He’s never  _ known  _ it could be like this. 

“Let go, Ben,” she whispers to him as she comes down from her high. “Let go.”

A sound resembling a whimper falls from his lips as she continues her ministrations on top of him. “Rey…” he starts saying her name like he can’t control himself, and as he buries himself in her kisses, he finds that between each one he can’t stop as his orgasm starts building within him. “Rey, Rey, Rey, Rey…” 

It’s too much pressure. Not long after she comes, Ben finds himself following her. He comes with a soft gasp that becomes another cry of her name, his hips bucking up again to meet hers as she groans on top of him, as her hand finds his again, their laced fingers gripping one another like they’re the only thing tethering each other to reality. Maybe they are. Maybe things have finally reached a point where they’re so good that he’s ceased to believe anything is real. 

Ben wants to melt into her as he finishes, he wants to never come back out, but he finds that as he comes down from his high, that he’s not scared to come back from reality. By some miracle, she’s made him brave, and he can’t explain it, but suddenly he’s seeing all the things life is supposed to be.

He’s supposed to enjoy reality. He’s supposed to love the simple things like holding her hand, exchanging kisses, missing her while he’s at work and laughing jubilantly when he comes home and she’s there and they get to spend another night together. That’s normal, he is supposed to love his life, and he knows he’s going to. He can see their first, fifth, tenth, fiftieth, and more anniversaries before they’ve even dreamt them up. He can see them in their first house, with a dog, and maybe they adopt five more dogs because they can and there’s so much love between them they sometimes sicken their neighbors. He can see vacations and photographs and years spending time with their friends and family and building memories, and he has never been more grateful for the hand of fate he’s been dealt. 

“Rey?” he whispers quietly as she pulls away, but before she can think to roll off of him, before it can really, properly be over. 

“Hmm?”

“I think I’m falling in love with you.”  _ Fuck.  _ He said it out loud. Now he’s nervous. “I know it’s only been a few hours, I know we’ve only just met, but I—“

She cuts him off with another short, sweet kiss, and he feels her smile against his lips. “I think I’m falling in love with you, too.”

Ben can’t help the delighted sort of giggle that escapes him as she pulls off of him, and lays down by his side, her stomach presses to the mattress while she looks at him from her perch on her crossed arms. “Really?”

“Really,” she promises him, then she scoots over, and presses another kiss to his lips. “I think we need to stop thinking of this as something odd or that the other shoe is going to drop.”

“Oh?” he asks, because how can they? How can they not worry that they’re going to lose everything when every other marriage that’s come about as fast as theirs has ends in divorce?

“Don’t get me wrong, we should still wait a year or so before we officially tie our lives together, but I’m not worried about it. I know we’ll make it to one year, I know we’ll make it to more than that. I know.” She rests a hand on his chest, splaying her fingers out over it as she watches it rise up and down, as she feels his heart beating, and he thinks about what they did in the elevator earlier, how desperate they’d been to feel each other’s hearts beating. 

He knows now it’s because his heart is tethered to hers. He knows that their most vital organs beat in sync now. They  _ move _ in sync now, like something magical, like something out of a fairytale. Magic isn’t real, but she is, and she’s cast a spell over him he hopes they never break free from. 

“I feel it, too,” he promises her, then he sighs deeply, brushing back a piece of her sex-mussed hair as he looks at her. “So… our flight for the big island leaves tomorrow at three. We’re going to be on a plane for twelve and a half hours…”

“This better be going where I think it’s going.”

“It is, as long as you don’t mind being… inventive in that lavatory.”

“In the lavatory?” she asks with a laugh, then she shakes her head. “Please, we’ll get creative in the seats.”

“Picky?” 

“I like to stay clean, and airplane bathrooms are a cesspool of bacteria, much like everything else on a plane,” she says, then she pushes herself up, and stares down at him as she trails her fingers down the center of his chest. “And speaking of… we should probably take a shower before bed. We’ve got a long flight tomorrow and not a whole lot of time to sleep.”

“Mmm, but that involves getting up.”

“Don’t you want to get up before your m—?”

That saying “speak of the devil and he will appear?” Ben firmly believes in it, and if he didn’t, he most certainly would now. His phone rings from where it is still waiting for him inside his jacket pocket, and he knows that their guests have realized they’ve left the reception. “You had to say that, didn’t you?”

“If we’d moved a bit quicker we’d be in the shower already and you would have no obligation to answer that call,” she points out, and he snorts as he sits up, then he gives her another short kiss. “Love you.”

“I love you, too,” he says, but there’s a teasing hint of sarcasm with it this time as he gets up, and makes his way to his suit jacket. Maybe he throws on his boxers as he goes because even though his mother isn’t in the room with him, he still can’t have a naked phone call with her. 

Once he’s somewhat decent, he digs the phone out of his pocket and picks it up, watching as Rey slides off the bed, and makes her way into the bathroom, giving him a warm smile and a wave as she goes, and he raises the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“You should know your mother’s raising hell,” his father’s voice replies. 

He scoffs, but he’s not surprised. “Dad…”

A deep laugh sounds from the other end of the line, and Ben can hear music playing and people shouting drunkenly as the party goes on in full swing. “Listen, kid, if you left early that can only mean one thing. I’m mostly just calling to appease Leia. She’s happy for you, we both are, but I need her to think I’m giving you hell for robbing her of the chance to dance with her son at his wedding.”

“I just met my wife, I wanted to get to know her.” He laughs as he runs a hand through his hair. “And we were both caught up in… all the emotions… just everything…”

“Ben, you don’t have to explain it to me, I don’t need to know, but anyone with eyes could see you’re a good fit for each other,” his father assures him, and it makes his pride swell all over again. “How is she?”

“Dad, she’s…” his hand falls limply to his side, and he scoffs jubilantly. “She’s perfect. I… I think I got incredibly lucky tonight.”

“I  _ bet  _ you did,” Han says with a chuckle, and Ben slams his palm into his forehead at his own bad phrasing. 

“ _ Dad!” _

“Relax, kid, I’m messing with you. I know what you meant. She’s got a wit better than anyone I’ve ever seen, and she got your  _ mother  _ to like her. I didn’t think that was possible, she  _ hated  _ your ex.”

“She’s hated most people I’ve brought home.”

“Well she loves Rey, so… don’t let this one slip through your fingers, kid.”

“We’re married now, dad, I don’t think it’d be easy to lose her even if I wanted to.”

“That’s good,” his father says, and suddenly he can hear his mother’s voice in the background, he can hear her getting ready to give  _ someone  _ hell. “Listen, I’m gonna let you go, but next time you hear from her, if she asks—“

Ben nods once even though his father can’t see him. “You gave me hell,” he says, then he laughs. “I know, dad. I love you.”

“Love you, too. Use protection.”

“Da—“ but his father has already hung up, and he laughs to himself again as he puts the phone down, and runs both hands through his hair. He’s got the greatest woman, the greatest  _ person  _ in the entire world at his side, and he managed to avoid getting chewed out by his mother for escaping his own wedding. 

And now he can hear the shower running, now he can hear Rey opening the door, and steam is leaking out of the crack she left in the one leading into the bathroom. A smile is blooming on his face for the millionth time as he jumps to his feet, and only just remembers to shed his boxers again as he rushes into the bathroom to join her. 

When he gets in there, she’s already standing beneath the spray absolutely soaked to the bone. She is drenched, water flowing down her body in rivulets as she shakes her head, letting it drip down into her hair as she washes herself clean of the wedding and everything she’s been through that day. If there are any traces of the touch of the man she’d almost married that day instead of him, they’re being washed down the drain right now. 

He wants to feel the same way. He wants to erase the remnant of Bazine’s hand on his cheek as she told him goodbye and said she was sorry, so he opens the door, and her eyes snap open as he joins her. “This seat taken?”

“Reserved,” she says, then she tugs on his hand, and pulls him into the shower, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kisses him, and the spray washes over them both, absolving them of their pasts as they steal the breath from each other’s lungs. 

The kiss makes him feel alive, like he can take on the world, like he’s invincible. A future with this woman sounds like paradise, and he can’t believe how lucky he is as he kisses her, as she presses him against the wall, and begins stroking his erection to life again, all the while refusing to break the kiss. It’s too much and not enough, and Ben wants to drown in it, to drown in  _ her,  _ and so he does. He loses himself to this kiss, and prepares to lose himself to so many more. 

He’s got a great, bright, beautiful future with Rey, and he can’t wait to see where it goes. He can’t wait for many more nights like this one, even when the wedding hysteria dies down—especially when it dies down. All he wants is to see it, and once the sun rises, he knows he will. 


	4. Hawai'i

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so I keep getting ideas for this, but I swear I'll try not to go beyond seven chapters. Six seems safe for now, but we'll see.

The next morning, he wakes up and thinks it was all a dream for a few seconds. Everything from Bazine abandoning him at the aisle to having the best sex of his life with Rey is thought to be only a figment of his imagination. For a brief fraction of time, he mourns that loss; grieves the fact that his mind has done such a cruel thing to him, but then he feels Rey’s flannel covered leg wrap around his, tugging him closer as she sleeps, and he realizes everything really happened. 

He really married someone he just met, and he really might’ve found his soulmate. 

His arms wrap around her a little more tightly upon this realization, and he thanks every star in the sky that he got this lucky. Her head is resting on his chest and her arm is wrapped around his waist as she drools on his old Florida state university t-shirt. It’s oddly sweet and charming, and he thinks he could get used to Rey’s drool. He looks forward to it actually. 

Looking over at the clock, he checks the time to make sure he’s able to spend his time holding her, and is relieved to find they still have two hours before they have to check out of their hotel. They’ve got plenty of time to recover from the insanity of the night they’ve just had, which is good because, in spite of having had nearly ten hours of sleep, he’s exhausted. 

“Are you as tired as I am?” Rey croaks, and that’s when he realizes she’s awake, that she might’ve even woken up before him. 

“Yeah, feels like I’m hungover even though I only had one glass of wine.” He rubs at his temple with one hand, then he sighs. “You?”

“Same. Maybe we’re getting old.”

“Must be,” she says, then she laughs. “How old are we, anyway? We never established it.”

“Thirty three, I’ll be thirty four next month.”

“Twenty seven, I’ll be twenty eight in October,” she tells him, then she laughs. “So maybe that’s it. We can’t hold our liquor like teenagers anymore.”

“You may be right.” He snorts quietly to himself. “Getting old already.”

“I think you’d look cute with wrinkles if that helps.”

“Thanks, you wouldn’t look bad with gray hair yourself.”

Both of them laugh at this, then he sighs as he remembers what they have to do today—and briefly what they’d discussed about airplane lavatories and getting clever in seats—that they can’t just stay here forever as badly as they both want to. Disappointment rushes through him as he lets his head flop back against the pillow again. “I don’t want to move.”

“I mean, the good news is if we move we go to Hawaii.”

“That’s fair, but that involves leaving this bed.”

“But volcanoes, beaches, paradise, being thousands of miles away from the people we both despise…” She shrugs as she sits up, then rests a hand gently on his chest. “Come on, let’s get dressed. We’ve got to pack up my dress and your tux anyway.”

Ben chuckles softly. “Damn, I thought they’d come with us,” he says sarcastically, and she swats his shoulder playfully before she rolls off of the bed, leaving him there to laugh at himself as she rifles through her suitcase for something to wear. 

“We’re probably going to have to do a little shopping in Hawaii. I only packed for one honeymoon, I didn’t think I’d be doing two.” She peels her shirt over her head, and his eyes are drawn to the muscles of her bare back—muscles that are well-sculpted from months to years of exercise. He’s thoroughly impressed, and almost misses what she’s talking about as she pulls on a strappy, olive green bralette. “Unless you just want to stop at our houses first.”

Shaking himself from his back muscle induced stupor, Ben hums disapproval. “Nah, we’ll just go shopping. My mom’s already house sitting for me, and if we go by my place, we’ll get an earful for skipping out last night.”

“I thought she called you and chewed you out already,” Rey comments as she reaches into the suitcase for a white, cap-sleeved button-down that only goes down to her waist, tying just above her belly-button. “Right before we got in the shower last night?”

She then shucks off her trousers and underwear in one go, and he can feel himself growing hard at the sight of Rey’s also well-sculpted ass. “Uh…” His brain is short-circuiting, he can’t compute thoughts, and he is at a complete loss for words until she pulls on a pair of underwear that matches her bralette, then high waisted jean shorts of a slightly deeper green. “No!” He finally jumps back into action, even though that ass is now flattered by the shape of her shorts. “That was my dad actually. He was supposed to chew me out for her, but he just teased me about it instead.”

“Oh, why didn’t you tell me?” she asks, throwing a hoodie at his face teasingly as he gets up, and walks around to his suitcase. 

“I wanted to, but you pulled me into the shower and started kissing me,” he told her, removing his drool-stained t-shirt with one hand, and replacing it with a plain white one. “I didn’t exactly want to talk about my dad after that.”

Rolling her eyes, Rey shoves her things into her suitcase, and goes over to where they’d left her wedding dress the night before. “Oh, this is going to be a pain in the ass.”

Ben laughs as he walks over to help her. “Maybe it’ll be less of a pain if we both do it,” he says, then she grins at him as she reaches up a hand to caress his cheek. He melts into the touch, sinking into her as his eyes close, and seconds later she surprises him when she presses her lips to his. 

Eyes widening as she pulls away, Ben feels his jaw go slack, and he’s instantly captivated by the blush that rises to her cheeks as she bends down to pick up the dress. “You may be right. Let’s get a move on, yeah?”

*

Half an hour later, they’re making their escape from the hotel room, the dress zipped up nice and tightly in a bag that will be dropped off at Rose’s place en route to the airport. It’s almost casual, like they’re just checking out of a room because they spent the night together and not because they’re newlyweds. He finds that he likes how effortless this feels. With his ex, he’d always been trying so hard to enjoy it, but right now he feels like he can just  _ breathe _ , like he can just enjoy being with Rey. 

Or just existing in general. 

They retrieve his car from the valet a few minutes later, receiving a warm grin and congratulations as the man who picked up his car surrenders the keys. Both of them are blushing when they get in the car, and Ben doesn’t stop until they pull out of the parking lot, and his wife’s phone offers them directions to Rose’s place. 

Since Rey had done most of the effort carrying the dress thus far, he’s the one who takes it up to the door, and when he knocks, he’s pretty thoroughly shell-shocked by who’s waiting for him on the other side.  _ Poe  _ of all people has just answered the door, his hair looking thoroughly mussed, his clothes from last night half-buttoned, and hickeys splattered across his neck. Ben can only blink his surprise as he hands his best man the dress, then checks the address of the house to see if he’s gone insane. 

“You’re not seeing things, Ben,” Poe assures him as he looks between him and the number written by the front door for the fifth time. 

“What…?”

“Who’s at the door?” Another male voice calls, one he recognizes as belonging to Finn. 

“The groom!” Poe shouts back, then he laughs as he runs a hand through his hair, and Ben’s eyes widen further in confusion. 

At last, a voice that belongs to Rose enters his ears. “Wait, Ben’s there?” Then footsteps follow, and Rose appears wearing what he can only assume is the shirt of Finn’s tuxedo on top of a pair of jeans. Clearly, she’d been getting dressed when he arrived. “Hey, I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, I thought I had another five minutes.”

“No, no, it’s cool, I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

Poe snorts at this. “Please, you know me. I always hook up at weddings. Or…” He shrugs. “Other social events.”

“Would you please stop talking for five seconds and go back upstairs?” Rose asks, sounding mildly annoyed, then Poe smirks, offering her a not at all subtle wink as he slips past her, then makes his way up the stairs. “Sorry about that. Listen, I’ve got to go, so tell Rey I love her, treat her right, and have fun, okay?”

Ben nods numbly. “Sure.”

“Great, see you when you get back,” she says, then the door shuts on his face, and he can hear laughter coming from the three people in the house as he walks away. 

When he gets in the car, he’s still in shock for another two seconds as he puts on his seatbelt, then he starts laughing. Rey looks on in confusion as he loses himself to fits of chest-heaving laughter, then he starts the engine, backing them out of the driveway as he processes what just happened. 

“What’s so funny?” his wife asks as they get out onto the road. 

He’s still laughing as he turns out of the neighborhood, and heads back for the highway. “Finn and Poe were there,” he tells her, and she looks at him in confusion. 

“So?”

Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he lets the silence say everything he isn’t, and a few seconds later, she clasps a hand over her mouth. “No way.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Seriously?”

“Hickeys and everything. Swear on my mother’s life.” He’s never going to be able to erase the image from his brain either.

Rey cackles as she leans against the passenger side window. “Oh my god.”

“I never should’ve introduced Poe to your friends; he always does this.”

“I’m sure Rose isn’t complaining. She might’ve had ulterior motives being my maid of honor, too.” She shakes her head, but she’s grinning the whole time. “At least they had a good time.”

A warm, fuzzy feeling forms in his gut again as he looks at her, feeling as if “Yeah, that’s true,” he says, then he lets one hand fall from the steering wheel, his eyes steady on the road the whole time. “I’m glad we had a good time, too.”

Her hand finds his a second later, and their fingers lace together as she sighs contentedly. “Yeah, me too,” she replies, then even though his air conditioning is on full blast, he feels heated as they enter the freeway, bound south for the airport, and soon west for Hawaii. 

*

It is eighty degrees Fahrenheit and humid when they land on the big island, and the sun is just going down. They had spent most of the plane ride awake, getting to know one another a little better and watching each other’s favorite movies to pass the time, and now that they’re finally in a Lyft bound for their hotel, both Ben and Rey are utterly exhausted. 

They’re almost too tired to process when the driver tells them they’ve arrived. He’s the sort of tired that makes him feel kind of drunk, like he’s moving through thick, viscous goo at all times. It nearly kills him to get out of the car and grab their things, and when he looks at her, he thinks it nearly kills her, too, but eventually they make it, they check into their room, they get into the elevator, and he sighs as they collapse onto the bed, not even bothering to change clothes as they kick off their shoes, then they crawl under the covers. 

Ben’s mind is spinning, his vision fuzzy, and he knows he’s going to pass out, but as Rey pulls him flush against her, he feels safe in spite of this, he feels like he’s going to be okay. He knows they’re going to be okay, and they’re about to have the time of their lives, and so he allows himself to sink into unconsciousness, drifting blissfully into a sleep full of dreams that heavily feature Rey and sunshine. 

*

The next morning Ben wakes up to the sound of the ocean, the sound of waves crashing on the shore of paradise. His eyes flutter open, and he’s nearly blinded by the light as he first looks into it, forcing him to bury his head in the pillow for a few seconds as he wakes up a bit more. He doesn’t fall back asleep again, but he’s tempted to for a few seconds. The only thing that stops him is remembering he hasn’t seen outside yet; he’s in a brand new place that he doesn’t know, and he’s excited to see it. 

After another minute or two, he looks up again, and this time, the light is warm and welcoming. He feels like he can face it now, and so he crawls out of the bed, makes his way over to the little balcony, slides the glass door open, and steps out onto it, letting the sights and sounds drown him as he takes in a breath of sweet, salty air. It’s everything he thought it would be and nothing like he expected all at once, and he is in love with it. 

He’s a Florida man, born and bred, he’s used to beaches, he’s used to the oceanic but this isn’t the same ocean he knows. This is another ocean, almost another world, but it seems even more blue, even more beautiful as the one he remembers, and maybe it’s just because it’s not something he’s seen a million times, but he thinks it might be the most gorgeous place he’s ever laid eyes on. 

“Enjoying the view?” Rey’s voice asks from behind him, and the corners of his mouth twitch as he turns around and sees her, taking in her wrinkled clothes and messy hair, and falling a bit harder for her in the process. 

“I am now.” He walks across the room, unsure of what to say as he watches her blush from the flirtation. 

She’s looking up at him expectantly, as if she’s getting ready to listen to whatever he has to say next, but he can’t think of anything. He’s lost, and she is the reason, he’s lost in her and it’s been two days, and that fear starts to creep in that this is all just an infatuation, that they’ve made a mistake and this is wrong, and her face begins to fall when she realizes he’s not going to say anything. “Ben?”

“The-the storm is over. The wedding’s done, reception’s finished, everyone’s gone home… the spell is broken…” He takes in a deep, shaky breath. “So-so are you sure you’re still in this? Do you-do you still want me? This? Us?” Shaking his head at himself, he leans against the nearest wall. “I know we’ve had this conversation before, but…”

As his voice trails off, he can see her face becoming neutral, and at first, he fears the worst, but then she gets up off the bed. Rey walks over to the balcony, looks out at the ocean, and the wonder on her face makes his fears start to melt away. “This is so beautiful,” she says, looking out at the ocean like it’s the first time she’s seen it. “I could live here.” She looks at him. “I could live here with you.”

This time, he’s the one who falls quiet, and she walks up to him with this confidence in her movements that he’s envious of. He wants so badly to be as sure of himself as she is, to be able to approach someone who’s just asked him a risky question and know his answer like it’s easy. Maybe he can learn this skill from her, he thinks as she wraps her arms around his neck, and pulls him down so his forehead is resting against hers. 

“I don’t regret it, Ben, I promise you,” she tells him, then she begins lightly stroking his hair as she steps even closer to him. “And even if I do start to regret it, we agreed last night not to permanently tie ourselves together for a year. Right now we’re two people who are seeing each other who happen to be on a vacation and will start dating when we get back. We also happen to be married.”

This makes him laugh a little, loosening him up as his hands rest on her hips like it’s the most effortless thing in the world. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“So relax. Let’s enjoy this. We’ve got this week and next week in paradise, and so far it’s been great.” She leans forward and presses a kiss on the tip of his nose. “I understand your fear. I’ve thought the same thing more than once since we had the conversation that started this.” 

As she says this, Rey pulls away, and he sees something new in her eyes; vulnerability. Suddenly she almost looks scared, haunted, and even though she’s looking at him he knows her eyes are in the past. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she says, then she cocks her head behind them. “Can we have this conversation on the bed?”

Nodding slowly, he cups her cheek and gives her what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Yeah, absolutely.”

His wife takes his hands and leads them to the bed, then they both sit down, moving in perfect sync like they always do. There’s so much fear about this going wrong, and he wants to blame it on the people who abandoned them both at the aisle, but he knows it’s more than that. Especially when Rey sighs, and squeezes his hand a little more tightly, her eyes shutting as she prepares to speak again. “Ben, I got scared, too. Everyone in my life but Maz, Rose, and Finn has left me, and I think Rose and Finn just haven’t known me long enough to leave,” she tells him, almost looking as if she wants to cry as she speaks, and he wonders about all the things she’d been through before they met. “The reason Maz is my mother in the first place is that my parents abandoned me. I was five years old, found wandering in the streets of London, and I bounced around the foster care system for six years after that.

“She found me when I was eleven, about to turn twelve, and we bonded. She grew attached, adopted me, and I was cold to her.” Rey picks at a cuticle, looking uncomfortable as she speaks, then she laughs at herself. “We needed a change, so we packed up a few years later when I was fifteen, and we moved here. We had a house in Pensacola, lived there for a while, then I went to the University of South Alabama in Mobile, she moved there, and that’s where I met Armitage, and…” She sniffles. “I had lost so many friends, boyfriends, acquaintances even after Maz found me that I-I had grown used to being abandoned, really I had. 

“And when he did that; when he left? I found all those feelings coming back for a moment, but I couldn’t bring myself to cry. The tears had just started to come out…” She looks at him, and he watches her blink a tear from her eyes, and for a second, it’s just like the moment they met, she’s crying one tear and he is just sitting there in her presence. “And then I met you, and you talked to me, you made me realize I wasn’t alone, and it was like you descended from some prayer I hadn’t even made. You appeared and you made the world better, you made me forget that I’d been left behind so many times because I just wanted to  _ bathe  _ in that sunlight you give off.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, I’ve known you for two days, but for some reason, I trust you, so…” She laughs at herself again. “So here we are. I have been abandoned so many times; more than I care to count, but you? I will never do to you what’s been done to me, so I understand your fear, I’ve lived it my whole life, but I will never let you feel the way I’ve felt. You will never know what it feels like for me to up and leave because I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

A part of him is tempted to take her face in his hands and kiss her senseless, but another part senses that would be a bad move, so he just leans against her and sighs. “I trust you, too,” he tells her, then he squeezes her hand. “And I won’t leave you either, if this ends, it won’t be on me.” He takes in a deep breath. “Since the conversation took this direction, I’ll tell you something I’ve only ever talked about with… maybe a therapist.”

“Ben, you don’t have to.”

“Hey, ‘for better or for worse,’ right?” He runs his thumb over the back of their joined hands. “I wasn’t abandoned like you were. Not physically, at least, but—I don’t know—my parents were distant, neglectful even. They didn’t listen when I told them something was wrong, that I felt alone… mom was too busy doing senate work and dad was just busy being… dad. 

“In college, I got involved with some research under a guy named Leonard Snoke. Brilliant doctor, a bit cold, a bit of a dick, but he had a way of convincing people that they mattered. He convinced me I was destined to be the next big thing in science, someone brilliant. I got involved in some pretty dirty work thanks to him, and my mother tried to warn me that he was no good, that he was just manipulating me and using my mind to do some nasty shit, but I didn’t believe her. Why would she suddenly start caring about me when she never seemed to when I was growing up? 

“I was kind of a dick. Things got worse. And from the age of twenty three to about thirty, I didn’t speak to them. It was only when I finally did realize what a fraud Snoke was that I got out of there, and it took… two years of therapy before I finally felt sane. Before—before I realized that not every conversation was just someone trying to gaslight me.

“Bazine was a good distraction for a while, but I was still pretty messed up when we met. I wasn’t in a good place. I think I was starting to realize we weren’t meant for each other a month before the wedding, but I kept convincing myself it was just nerves. Now I know…” He slumps over a little, his posture falling to shambles as he finally unloads that last piece of shit from his chest. 

“Then I promise you I won’t do that. I won’t screw with your mind, I won’t ever try and gaslight you.” She wraps an arm around his shoulders, then she pulls him a little closer. “I’m not like that. I know you’re not like that either.”

“No, I’m not,” he confirms, then he exhales deeply. “And I know neither of us is ever gonna do that to each other because we just opened up about our deepest shit within two days of knowing one another. That takes either trust or an extreme level of drunkenness neither of us is at.”

“That’s true.”

“So let’s go do what you said. Let’s go enjoy paradise,” he says, then he’s grinning again. “I have some volcanoes I want to see.”

“I thought you were a chemist, not a geologist.”

“Had to take a couple of semesters of geology to graduate. It was actually sort of relevant. Magma composition is a weird chemical ordeal that’s… really fucking weird.”

“That got away from you didn’t it?” Rey asks, chuckling quietly as color creeps up his cheeks. “But that sounds lovely, I’d love to see that with you, but… I’m not really in a headspace to go out after that conversation. I don’t suppose we could just lie here for a little while?”

He nods perhaps a little too eagerly given the way the conversation has gone. “Yeah, absolutely,” he says, then he leans back into the mattress, pulling her down with him. “I’m not really in the headspace either, to be honest.”

She hums against him as she buries her face in his neck, and he sighs, feeling comfortable, like he’s at home even though home is two thousand miles away. It strikes him again how lucky he is to have her, because without her he’d be at home wallowing in self-pity right now, and he’s grateful that he’s snuggled up with her out here in the middle of the ocean. He’s so fucking grateful. 

“What’s your favorite song?” she asks him suddenly, interrupting his thoughts before they can really go anywhere. 

“My favorite song?”

“Yeah, what can you listen to for hours and hours on end and never get tired of?” She nudges his arm as she props her head upon her hand. “I remember you said you were a seventies rock fan.”

Acknowledging her with a small grunt, he thinks on his choice for a few seconds, combing through the selection of every song he knows as he tries to answer her question. After what might be a few seconds too long, it hits him. “ _ Take it to the Limit  _ by the Eagles.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it always makes me think of driving in the car with my dad as a kid.” He smiles at the memory of him and his dad driving down the highway in the evenings when he was young, windows rolled down as they sang their hearts out to the unhearing ears of the cars around them. “He loved popping in  _ One of these Nights  _ in the CD player, it was his favorite album. Everyone else worshipped  _ Hotel California,  _ but my dad’s mistress was the album we listened to on the nights he’d pick me up from my after school clubs.”

“That sounds lovely,” Rey says, her eyes still closed like she’s imagining it, envisioning a miniature version of the man lying beside her singing his heart out with his father. 

“It was probably the best thing we ever did together.” He turns to his side, then he’s propping his head up as well, watching as her eyes flutter open. “What about you? What’s your favorite song?”

She laughs, then she shrugs. “I know I said I was on a grunge kick, but it’s  _ Your Song  _ by Elton John. I saw Moulin Rouge when I was a pre-teen and it left an impression on me.” 

“I like it,” he says, then he feels the corners of his mouth twitch as another memory comes to mind. “I once learned how to play that on a piano.”

“Oh, you have to show me sometime.”

“Buy me a drink first, I’ll need liquid courage.”

Rey seems jubilant in light of this news as she scoots a little closer to him, light shining in her eyes that makes him certain she’s doing much better than she was a minute ago. “That’s the second time in this conversation alone, though, that you’ve mentioned musical talents. You play piano and you sing—or you did when you were a child—do you still do those things now?”

“Not really.”

“Then that’s my new mission. I’m gonna get you to sing for me.”

“No you’re not,” he protests, because that’s the most preposterous thing in the world. He hasn’t sung in years for anyone, least of all a stranger he’s known for two days. “I don’t sing anymore.”

“Well if you change your mind, I’d love to hear it. I did choir in high school and college. We could be duet partners. We’ll kick  _ ass  _ at karaoke,” she says excitedly, looking far too eager at the prospect of doing karaoke. 

“Pffft, I’m sure we would be, but in your dreams, Rey, because I’m never going to sing.”

Her face turns into a pout, and a tiny pinch of guilt floods him, so he gets rid of the sadness the only way he knows how; he kisses her, and instantly that pout is gone. She’s kissing him back now, returning every inch of what she gets from him as he slowly presses her into the mattress. 

The waves outside continue crashing, providing a sweet ambiance for the slow, gentle, lazy kisses they start to exchange. It never amounts to anything greater, they don’t have mind-blowing sex like they did on their wedding night, but it feels so fucking nice that Ben wants nothing more than to just lay here like this with her forever. 

In the aftermath of the conversation they had, he feels serene, at peace with himself and all his demons and fears, like he can take on the world and not lose. The way she kisses him, he can tell she’s thinking the same thing, and just knowing they’re going to be in this together fills him with a sense of comfort he never thought he’d have. He’s happier than he ever thought he would be, and this is only the first day of their honeymoon. 

He can only wonder what else the big island has in store for them, and he can’t wait to find out. He can’t wait for them to go out and see what awaits them in this world beyond their world. 

Starting with that volcano just a few miles away. 


	5. Pizza and the Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a touch shorter than the others, but heck, I feel like this was the right place to stop, even if it means I'm probably upping the chapter count again, thanks so much for sticking around with this fic.

The volcano is every touch as magical as he thought it would be. After holding Rey for a while in their hotel room and then spending a few hours splashing around in the waves—and of course, taking pictures for social media to ensure their exes they were doing just fine without them—they got dressed, then they headed over to the visitor’s center, bee-lining for the observation deck overlooking the crater. 

Now an orange glow rises up beneath a cloud of steam and ash, illuminating it so that it matches the color of the sunset in the distance. Both of them are smiling as they hold each other, watching the molten rock make its way out to sea as they wrap their arms around each other’s waists and watch one of the most basic acts of nature go down before their eyes. 

“Is this what you hoped to see?” Rey asks him, leaning her head against his shoulder as they watch the lava roll lazily out to the ocean. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is,” he says, but he’s not looking at the volcano, he’s looking at her like some sort of sap. Maybe he is a hopeless romantic after all. “It’s almost the perfect metaphor for our situation.”

“How so?”

“Well, from one perspective, lava destroys things. It just tears everything apart and changes things forever, but from another…” He reaches across her body for her free hand, the one that’s currently holding her wedding ring. “It’s creation. New land, new things rise from every single drop of it this thing chucks up.”

Rey chuckles quietly, sighing as his thumb brushes over her wedding ring. “Yeah, that’s definitely one way to look at it,” she says, then she hums contentedly, like she’s closing her eyes as she speaks. “Our old relationships got destroyed and from that, this one was born.”

“I think I like this one a lot better.”

“You think?” she asks, and her voice is sarcastically accusatory, but it is accusatory nonetheless. 

Gulping, Ben laughs. “I  _ know  _ I like this one better.”

“I know you do,” she assures him, then he feels her rise onto the tips of her toes beside him, and she presses a kiss to his cheek. “I think we’d both rather die than go back to our exes, wouldn’t we?”

“We did vow forever,” he reminds her, then he looks down as she rests her chin upon his shoulder. “I personally plan to never look back.”

“Me too.” She presses a kiss to his neck this time, causing him to shiver in spite of the heat and humidity. “What do you want to do tomorrow?”

It takes a moment, but soon an idea springs to mind. He’s just promised to never look back on his ex, and so has she, but the one thing they both still have tying them to those people is… He looks down at their wedding rings, their mismatched, metal bands, and he knows what they have to do. “I have an idea,” he says, grinning like a loon as he looks down at her. 

Without hesitating, she’s grinning back, and she looks down to his lips for half a second before she rises to the balls of her feet again, and wraps her arms around his neck while she brings her lips to his. 

He’s still smiling as he returns it, as he leans into the kiss and lets her lower lip become captured by his. The light of the setting sun warms his face as he turns into it, his palm coming up to caress her cheek, letting her know she’s not alone as he sweeps her into a loving embrace, and they share a kiss surrounded by the elements, and lit in hues of pink and orange. 

It, like everything else about her, feels right. He feels right with her, like his entire world is at peace, and he’s never going to know what it feels like to truly be miserable again. He can endure anything with her at his side, he knows this, he knows they’re each other’s foundation and they were always going to be. 

*

They get their new rings the next day. There’s a store not far from their hotel, and he takes Rey there later in the morning after they’ve had breakfast. Excitement is buzzing in his veins as they leave their hotel holding hands, like he’s finally about to be free of the chain holding him to Bazine and the ring her family had picked out. He can tell Rey’s thinking the same thing as they walk in, ready to be free of the last physical traces she has of Armitage. 

At least, the last physical traces either of them have on hand. They’ll probably have to spend weeks getting rid of their previous partners’ things from their apartments. He and Rey had both been the original tenants of their places, so Bazine and Armitage are going to have to be the ones who move out, but getting them to do that will be a colossal pain in the ass. 

He’s just grateful he’ll have her through it all. 

They walk out of the store with new rings on their fingers, matching golden bands that feel like they belong to them, and a diamond engagement ring on Rey’s finger that’s simple but elegant. It’s just one diamond, but it does the job, it lets people know her heart is taken. It makes them feel like their marriage is a little more real now. 

“We should take pictures of these. I know your mum would kill us if we didn’t,” Rey says as they’re walking down the street after. “So will mine.”

“It’s not like we’re teenagers.”

“Ben, I only met your mother for about two hours, but I got the impression that she knows how to bury a body and get away with it.”

He snorts quietly as they wander down a street full of restaurants and tourist shops, the sounds of music, chatter, and the ocean filling their ears. “You may be right,” he says, then he retrieves his phone from the pocket of his shorts, and opens up the camera. “Hold up your hand.”

His wife doesn’t need to be told twice. Together, their hands rise into the frame, and Ben watches as the lens focuses, then his thumb hovers over the little button on his screen that will let him take the picture, and he snaps the shot of their ringed hands. He snaps a second for good measure, then he puts the phone away, and sighs as he looks up and down the street. “We should find somewhere to eat.”

“Ooh, yeah,” she replies, then she pauses. “Hey, what’s your favorite food?”

He laughs. “I mean, we’ve already established we both love pineapples on pizza.”

“Oh my god… a Hawaiian pizza in Hawai’i.”

“I highly doubt it’s actually a Hawaiian thing.”

“Probably not, but still.” She smacks the back of her hand into his chest, then she grins excitedly. “Let’s go find a Papa John’s or something.”

“Do they even  _ have  _ Papa John’s out here?”

“Only one way to find out,” Ben replies, then he brings out his phone again, and opens up Safari. 

*

They’re incredibly lucky. There’s not just one Papa John’s on the big island, there are several. They get to go back to their hotel and wait for it to be delivered while they surf through Netflix and Prime and try to figure out what they’re going to watch. It’s here that Ben learns Rey has a love for political thrillers and science fiction, which almost matches up with his love for generic thrillers and fantasy. 

Her taste isn’t bad, though, he doesn’t mind it at all, and he even wants to give her stuff a try, so they settle on  _ Doctor Who  _ just as the pizza guy calls him to let him know he’s outside. 

Kissing her right before he goes feels about as easy as breathing, and he blushes when she bites her lip after, staring at him mischievously as she watches him go, and props her head upon her hands while he makes his way out of the room. He’s fairly certain his cheeks are still pink when he goes out to meet the teenager who’s just delivered their pizza, but if the kid notices, he doesn’t say anything. Ben still tips him extra for his trouble anyway. 

When he gets back up to the room, Rey springs up excitedly from their mattress to take one of the two boxes they’d ordered from his hands—they’d both claimed to have big, bottomless pits for stomachs, hence two boxes were completely necessary—from his hands before she even greets him, laughing triumphantly as she returns to the bed. He blinks in surprise as she opens up the box, sighing contentedly as she pulls a still hot slice from it, and closes her eyes, just holding it there for a second. “I haven’t had this shit in months,” she tells him. “Armitage hated pineapples on pizza.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” he breathes, then he has to bite his tongue to keep from reacting to the way she  _ moans  _ when she bites into her slice for the first time. He can barely contain himself, feeling almost like he wants to rip the pizza away and ask her if they can just have sex instead, but he can’t ruin this joy for her. This is probably the happiest she’s ever been, and all because someone had put fruit on her pizza. “You satisfied?”

“Mmm, so satisfied,” she breathes, still chewing as she answers him, then she pats the bed beside her. “Come on. We’ve got a show to watch.”

“If you keep moaning like that, I won’t be able to focus.”

She moans again with her next bite, then with her mouth still incredibly full of food, she laughs. “You’ll learn,” she assures him, then he climbs onto the bed beside her, chuckling quietly to himself as he does do. 

For better or for worse, they’d promised each other, and he intends to keep that promise, even if it means putting up with Rey’s obscene pizza moans and getting odd erections when he smells pizza from now on. He’ll gladly suffer anything for her; after all, he’d agreed to such a thing when he’d married her. 

*

_ Doctor Who  _ is actually a lot more fun than he’d thought it would be. He enjoys the goofy adventure aspect of it all; it makes him feel young again, like maybe he’s eleven or twelve years old and he’s seeing all these cool things for the first time. Sure some of the special effects from 2005 don’t hold up that great but overall he’s having so much fun he barely notices. He also winds up so full of pizza he can barely move, and neither can Rey. 

They’re blissed out on pizza and each other, and so eventually they roll over on the bed, put the show on pause, look at each other, and just groan from the low amount of pain they’re now in as they lie there just digesting. It’s ridiculous, but it’s also weirdly fun, and he feels full in more than just the physical sense. He’s also emotionally filled, and it feels really, really nice. He loves how it feels to be beside her like this, how he’s full and aching because they had a good time together. It’s wonderful, and he can’t get enough of it. 

She’s better than any wine he’s ever tasted, and he is absolutely drunk on her. 

Eventually, they do decide to move again, and together they make the choice to go out to the beach, but they don’t put on their swimsuits. Tonight, they just want to walk by the water’s edge and maybe build sandcastles. They just want to have simple fun, and nothing can stop them. Nothing  _ will  _ stop them. 

All they do is change into simple beachwear—Rey opting for a short, flowy dress, and Ben donning a t-shirt and shorts—then they put their pizza remnants in their hotel room’s fridge, and make their way outside. 

When they first get to the beach, it’s a touch too crowded for their liking, but it’s still nice. He likes how warm the water is as the waves brush past their bared feet, how it feels to lace his fingers through hers, and how the sunlight feels on his face as they walk toward its dying light. The longer they walk, the fewer people are present on the beach, and by the time the sun dips below the horizon, leaving just a few choice streaks of pink, yellow, and midnight blue against dark grey clouds, they’re almost the only ones there. 

The loneliness is for once not intimidating, but rather nice, and he finds himself comforted by it as they start tracking back East toward where they’d abandoned their stuff on the beach. When they lay down on their towels, huddled up beneath a blanket he’s set out for them, they look up at the stars and he is once again assured that this right here is just as fated as each ball of gas burning brilliantly above them. It almost feels like their light will also burn for billions of years, reaching far off places they can’t even dream of, and still shining long after they’re gone. 

“Can you see the Big Dipper?” he asks, then he looks down and away from her. “I’ve uh… never been able to find it.”

“You’re kidding me.”

He shakes his head. “Afraid not.”

“Oh god, so… it looks like a spoon,” she tells him, laughing as she takes his wrist in her hand, and points up to the sky, watching his index finger extend to a point as she guides their joined hands up to the sky. “You see those seven stars? Four of them make a bowl and three make a handle?”

His eyes narrow for a second, then they widen as he finally spots the constellation that’s evaded him for years, but seemingly been spotted by every other child astronomer in the world. “Oh my god, I see it,” he breathes, then he laughs delightedly. “Rey, I see it!” And he sounds giddy, tipsy on his own sheer joy as they look at the stars together, the seven that make up the Big Dipper twinkling brilliantly at them as they both grin in delight. 

What he loves most about it, though, may be that his wife never judges him for his mistake. She never looks down on him or thinks less of him for not knowing that the Big Dipper was right in front of him all along. In fact, once she’d found out, she’d just decided to show him what he was looking for, even if it was something obvious to her. He loves her kindness, how it extends to even the most trivial of things, and he can’t wait to live with it forever. 

God, he’s the luckiest man alive. 

“See what you can do with your hands when you put your mind to it?” she asks, then she rests her palm on his chest as his hand slips back beneath their blanket. “Great things.”

An idea springs to his mind, hearing that, though probably not the one she’s thinking of, and he laughs as he feels around for the hem of her dress beneath the blanket. “Yeah, I think you may be right,” he replies, then he lets his fingers slip beneath the hem, and begins to glide the fabric up the smooth expanse of her thigh as her breath hitches. “Is this okay?”

She nods, shifting closer to him to grant her husband better access. “More than okay, just be ready to move back quickly if anyone comes by.”

“Won’t be a problem, I’m not full-on having sex with you on the beach.” He chuckles to himself again. “We’d get sand everywhere.”

“You’re probably right,” she says, then he turns onto his side, propping his head up on one hand while the other keeps slowly drifting further and further up her thigh, hiking her dress up way higher than will be deemed appropriate if they suddenly lose their blanket to the wind. 

Both of them start breathing a little harder in anticipation of what’s coming, both eager and yet nervous, since they haven’t done much in the way of sexual things except for their wedding night, and they’ve certainly never done anything in a setting that could be remotely public. It’s nerve-wracking and exciting, and just one thing on a long list of things he wants to experience with her. “Just tell me if y—“

“I won’t,” she tells him, then she leans forward, and wraps her hand around the back of his neck. “Now shut up, and kiss me.”

Who is he to deny his wife what she wants? He can’t help smiling as he fills her request, lips slanting over hers just as his fingers reach the band of her underwear, and he slips his fingers beneath it right at the apex of her thighs. Instantly, he’s greeted by the feeling of how wet she is as his fingers brush over her entrance, and both of them moan into the kiss at the contact. 

She feels like what he imagines heaven feels like, and as he begins to press one finger gently inside of her, living for the way she whimpers against his mouth, and her fingers curl tightly in his hair as her teeth graze his lower lip. He’s suddenly being kissed a bit more roughly as Rey loses her self control, and somehow, it’s the hottest thing he’s ever felt. He wants to lose himself to this completely, and so he begins to press that finger further, curling it inside of her as he deepens the kiss, letting his wife’s lips meet his a little more forcefully with every single stroke, and feeling more alive as he slowly pulls the finger out of her. 

At first, she groans from the loss, but then he presses it in again, and she shudders around him, sighing his name against his lips as she kisses him again, fierce and raw like its something almost primal. He begins pumping the finger in and out of her, and suddenly every kiss is like that—suddenly he’s seeing stars, and he can only imagine what this will be like as it progresses, or what it will be like by the time she comes. 

He picks up his face, feeling her grow more and more wet as the time goes on, and it spurs him to act further. Ben breaks away from the kiss for a few seconds, wanting to watch her face when this happens, and he slowly begins to add a second finger, eyes glued to her face as her eyes clamp shut, her neck arches back, and she can’t seem to stop herself from whispering his name over and over again. It makes him think of their wedding night, how he’d done the exact same thing to her then, and he thinks now of how she’d cried out, swore, and shouted his name. Both memories are going to be forever committed to his brain, and as he begins to gently pump both fingers, Rey shivers beneath him, burying her face in his neck while he fingers her within an inch of her life. 

“ _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…” _

“Use your words, Rey,” he whispers, and she moans shakily as he pulls back from him to rest her head on the ground as he curls those fingers inside of her, causing her to gasp involuntarily as she clasps her free hand over her mouth. 

“God, Ben, this is…”

“Say it.”

“So good, so…” He curls his fingers again. “Oh, fuck, so good…”

The corners of his mouth twitch into the form of a smirk, and he laughs as he leans down again to kiss her, his thumb slowly reaching up to rub her clit in smooth, steady circles that have her biting her lip to keep from screaming. “Are you going to come?”

She shakes her head. “Not yet.”

The smirk becomes full-grown, then he moves his fingers a little faster, his thumb applying a little more pressure, and his fingers are greeted with a fresh new wave of wetness that has them both groaning contentedly. This is happiness, this is bliss. It’s the most ecstasy he’s ever felt; fucking her with his fingers on this beach while the waves crash in the background and the wind whips gently past their blanket-covered bodies? He’s never going to find a better memory than this. 

The ocean continues roaring in his ears as he kisses her again, moaning softly as Rey’s hands tug a little too tightly in his hair, and he nearly passes out from how good it feels, how good  _ she  _ feels. He still hasn’t felt her come, though, so he folds his fingers on top of one another, making them a bit narrower as he gently begins pressing a third finger inside of her, but only just. He tests her like that for a few seconds, unsure of whether she’ll enjoy it, or if she even  _ is  _ enjoying it. 

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Rey asks as she breaks away from the kiss, then she briefly kisses him again. “ _ Do it _ .”

Ben always has been terrible at refusing his wife’s requests. Bending down to kiss her again, lips colliding passionately, he presses that third finger a little further inside of her, feeling her stretch around him, accommodating him, taking that third finger just as well as she’d taken his cock, and she hums against his mouth. She’s enjoying it, he can tell, she’s living for every second that his fingers are pumping in and out of her, for every second his thumb is rubbing almost furiously at her clit, and her kissing technique starts growing sloppy. 

Maybe she wasn’t close before, and maybe she was being honest with him about that, but he’s starting to think that she’s getting close now. 

That doesn’t stop him from kissing her, though, he’s not going to stop to ask because it’s not worth it to break such a wonderful kiss. He can’t ruin what he’s wanted all along to get lost in, all he can do is bury his fingers deeper inside of her, curl them once they’re nearly buried to the hilt, and listen to the sound of her sharp whines as he kisses them away. She’s losing herself just as much as he is, probably more given that she’s the one this is happening to. 

The kisses become fully unfocused, unhinged, and he senses with every feral brush of her lips against his that she’s getting closer, and so he moves just a little bit faster, bringing he right to the edge. She breaks away from the kiss, crying out his name perhaps a little too loudly as she finally comes, her cunt spasming around his fingers as he curls his fingers deep inside of her one last time, and both of them moan in ecstasy from the way it feels. 

Her hands are white-knuckled fists in his hair, her eyes are clenched shut, her mouth is open in a soft little O, and after a few seconds, the sound ceases to come out. All that leaves her—all that is  _ capable  _ of leaving her—are a few short, sharp,  _ choked  _ rushes of air that sound like music to his ears. It sounds like the heaven he thought he was feeling minutes ago, and he sighs as she comes down from her high, as she finds herself capable of making actual sounds again—as her eyes eventually flutter open like she’s waking up from a really good dream. 

This, however, is no dream, it’s reality, and they are the luckiest people on the planet to be living in it. They are so lucky to be breathing heavily as Ben’s fingers come to a stop inside of her, to be staring down at one another like they can’t believe what just happened, and to be holding one another this close as they lay there on the beach. 

Above all, though, they’re lucky to have not gotten caught. They’re incredibly fortunate that no one has wandered down this beach and seen them canoodling beneath the blanket. They were technically fully clothed the whole time, but still, he’s pretty sure sex on the beach is just as illegal here as it is back home in Florida. 

Ben laughs to himself at the thought as he pulls his fingers out of her, and licks them clean, tasting her as he moans a touch over dramatically. He just wants to see how she’ll react. 

At first, she is indeed captivated by what he’s doing, but then her eyes narrow at him, and she cocks her head to the side. “What’s so funny?”

“We didn’t get caught,” he says, then he laughs to himself again. “We just practically had sex on the beach and got away with it. We could’ve gotten arrested.” More laughter shakes him as he lies on his back, and stares back at the stars. 

“Yeah, we did,” she replies, chuckling quietly as she snuggles up beside him. “But we didn’t get caught.”

“No, we didn’t.”

“Did you ever think four days ago that you’d be here? Having sexual encounters with a stranger on the beach?” she asks him, her tone light and teasing. 

He turns his head again to look at her, his expression growing just a bit more sober and serious again as he cups her cheek in one hand. “No, but you’re also not a stranger, not anymore,” he says, then he leans forward, and kisses her forehead. “You’re my wife.”

Rey shivers against his touch, then she smiles as she nods her confirmation that this is indeed true. “Yes, yes I am,” she replies, then she slowly rolls on top of him, and rests her hands on his chest. “And you’re not a stranger anymore either.” She leans down, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth as she speaks. “You’re my husband.”

“Yes, I am.” Then he takes her face in his hands, and kisses her softly, gently; the ferocity from before lost to the feeling of serenity as they lay like that for a while until they  _ do  _ get told to leave, kissing lazily and slowly like they have all the time in the world. 

After all, they’ve got the rest of their lives to look forward to after this. Any time they break from a kiss is just putting it on pause so that they can play it over and over again later, and lose themselves in the sweet haven of the eternal repeat. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Rey can take Ben's dick she can take three fingers, I said what I said. thank u and good night.


	6. Bali

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy, sorry this took so long, that one shot challenge I’ve been doing on the side takes up a lot of my time 😅. Anyway there’ll be one more chapter of this and then an epilogue so we’re almost at the end, y’all!

Hawai’i passes in a beautiful blur after that. He spends his week getting to know this woman he’s married, making love to her, and learning all the things about who she was before their vows had brought them together. In turn, she learns the same about him, and by the time they’re packing their things to go to Bali, they actually feel like they’ve been friends for years. 

By the time their first honeymoon ends, Rey isn’t just a woman he has a very real and visceral connection with, but she’s his friend. She’s on track to even become his best friend. They’re doing this so out of order it’s absurd, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He is falling for her, and she is falling for him, and he knows this is what fate had always intended for them. 

They board their flight to the Indonesian island with smiles on their faces, and as they settle into their seats, Rey snuggles up against him. Together, they watch the plane lift off from the ground, and it lifts up and up and up, carrying them into the clouds—into the next stage of their adventure. 

Once they’re at cruising altitude, the WiFi comes on, and he sends a message to his family—and Poe, who had claimed concern but really just wanted to know if he’d joined the mile high club—and lets them know they’ll be in touch in another ten hours. They’re going to have the world’s longest flight home, but he thinks it’ll be worth it. 

Anything with her is worth it. 

Rey sighs peacefully as she rests her head on his shoulder, and the island they were on slowly fades from view. “That was amazing.”

“It was,” he replies, lacing their fingers together, then he presses a kiss to the top of her head. “I feel a lot more married now.”

“Me too,” she says, then she rests a hand on his chest. “I almost wish this wouldn’t end.”

“Yeah, but it has to. All healthy relationships need a little separation. That’s why we’re keeping separate places.”

She groans, but nods as she begins gently rubbing circles into his chest. “I know, but this first week has taught me that we’re going to be good at this. I can feel it in my bones. We’re going to be amazing at it.”

“I feel it, too,” he says, then he brushes a strand of her hair out of her face. “I think we got incredibly lucky. Like that love at first sight bull shit you hear about in stories.”

“So we’re bull shit?”

“Basically.”

Rey grins. “I fucking love it.”

Ben can’t help the laughter that begins shaking his whole body. She makes him smile in a way he never has with anyone else, not even his closest friends, and it’s only been a week. He loves her, he knows he does, and this has been the best week of his life. Whatever happens next…

He doesn’t know what that will be, right now he’s focused on holding his wife close. Letting go of her hand, Ben lifts the armrest between them and pulls her closer. She grins as she takes off her seatbelt, and allows herself to be pulled closer to him until she’s practically in his lap. 

“You know, from this angle, we could absolutely do something worthy of the mile high club,” she whispers to him, and he blushes as he giggles, and he presses a kiss to her forehead. “I could just reach my hand down, and…”

She does exactly what she promises. Rey reaches down, hands fumbling beneath the blanket a poor Delta attendant has given them, and he feels her fingers brush over his cock through his jeans. At the moment, he isn’t terribly hard, but  _ fuck,  _ if she keeps this up? He will be soon enough. 

In fact, it takes just under thirty seconds of her palming him through his jeans for him to start to grow incredibly hard. A tiny groan escapes him, and he starts to realize that he’s not going to have the greatest self-control when she does this. Luckily the airline provides blankets for flights this long, and Ben lifts his hips to pull his blanket out from under him, spreading it over them both as he checks to make sure none of the other passengers have noticed. 

Thankfully they haven’t, and so once the blanket is covering them sufficiently, Rey begins to undo the button of his jeans, her hand reaching for his fly next as she works to free his cock beneath the blanket. “I’ve been wanting to return the favor ever since we were on the beach a few days ago,” she whispers to him, her hand reaching beneath the fabric to take it in her hand as memories of making her come apart on the beach fill his mind. 

That night had been the most sensual, intense thing of his life aside from their wedding night, and he shudders at the thought of what she is going to do to him now. He thanks his lucky stars that half the plane has already passed out, and the flight attendants are barely bothering with serving drinks, because he will not survive if he has to speak to one even if it’s just to turn down the offer of soda and fucking pretzels. 

Rey’s hand wraps around his cock beneath their blanket and he grips the armrests like they’re his lifeline, because right now, they are. She’s so delicate with him, so soft and sweet, and he thinks he might die a delicious, depraved death, robbed of all the years he’ll have with her driving him insane. God, how he wants those years. He wants them to be old and gray and still making each other absolutely  _ howl  _ with pleasure. 

But right now? He’s not certain he’ll make it. She begins stroking his cock slowly, and her pace doesn’t pick up because if she moves any faster they’ll be caught. This is about to be the best torture of his life, and all he can do is lean his head back and take it. He  _ wants  _ to take it. 

Her hand is soft against his cock, the sweet friction she creates making him feel drunk. If he recalls correctly, one drink on land is worth two over the air, and maybe that’s not precisely logical, but he feels twice as drunk as he normally does from Rey’s touch. They’d fooled around a few times over the past week, but right now, getting away with what they’re doing in a semi-public setting?

It’s exhilarating in a way he hasn’t felt in years. 

His wife’s fingers slide over his tip, and he starts fucking praying that she’ll at least finish him off quickly. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if she makes him come, if he makes a noise, but he knows this feels good, this feels wonderful, and as far as handjobs go, this is the best one he’s ever had. Ben is dying, but he’s also coming alive in the most wonderful way possible. 

Rey presses a tiny kiss to his neck, occasionally whispering to him to ask if he’s feeling all right, then she makes her pace as swift as she thinks she can get away with, and they both relax into their seats, pretending to sleep as the flight attendants come by with drinks. They ignite again as the attendants disappear, and Ben melts into her touch, biting his lip to keep from crying out her name loudly enough for the whole plane to hear. 

Up until now, they’ve been very vocal in the bedroom. Both of them have let one another know exactly how close they are, when they’re coming, and when they’re simply enjoying it. Right now, Ben doesn’t have any of those options. All he has is the feeling it brings him, the ability to steady his breathing, and of course, Rey’s hand around his cock, pumping him slowly, but still as if she’s on a mission. 

Her objective? Make her husband come on a red Delta blanket thirty thousand feet in the air. Simple, really. Or rather, it should be, but of course, he has to be quiet and she can’t be obvious, so the torture is drawn out slowly, and he’s made to feel as if he wants to die but he wants to live a thousand years at the same time. 

It’s the best feeling he’s ever had in his entire god damn life, and it isn’t long before he starts to feel his orgasm building within him. He’s going to come, they’re going to join the mile high club on this fucking plane, but it’s only a matter of time, and he’s still holding on to his last shred of sanity. 

“Come for me, Ben,” Rey whispers, and he thinks for a second that he must’ve died some sweet, depraved death robbed of all his senses but touch, because there’s no way she just whispered that quietly enough for no one else on the plane to hear that. 

Of course, she’d whispered it when they were all asleep, so of course, when he finally makes some noise, when he finally comes, whimpering very, very softly as he does so, he realizes that it was, in fact, real, and he’s actually coming into her hand. Ben is coming on the blanket, and it’s all he can do not to shout her name as he bites down on his lip hard enough to draw blood. 

The taste of metal fills his mouth as he comes apart, wanting to scream and shout under her touch, but being utterly unable to. It is the cruelest and most vicious form of torture, and he knows that their blanket is going to be covered with his come stain for the remaining hours of the flight, but he doesn’t care. All he can do right now is look at her. 

Rey is captivating in his eyes, she looks mischievous and triumphant, and he just wants to take her to the floor and go at it until neither of them can stand, but he can’t do that, not yet. He must be patient. He has to hold himself high, keep a grip on his emotions. He won’t survive this flight if he doesn’t. 

“That was…” he manages to say eventually, and the silent spell between them is broken. 

“Fantastic? Dangerous? Risky? Terrible?” she offers, and he laughs as he leans over to press a brief kiss to her lips. 

“The first three, yes,” he promises her, then he shakes his head. “The last one, no.”

“Really?”

“Really, my only regret is that I didn’t get to shout for you when I finally came.”

“Ben,” she breathes, and it’s a very small thing, just one word, but he feels like he might’ve just gotten one tiny crumb of revenge from it. They’re looking at one another now; that feeling of warmth he always gets when he looks at her rising within him to let him know this isn’t just some lust-filled revenge trip--it’s real. What’s between him and Rey is real, and he takes her hand in one of his as the other tucks his cock back into his pants, and they both grin a little at each other. 

*

Arriving in Bali is twice as exhausting as arriving in Hawai’i had been. The flight is just as long, but somehow they’re still so exhausted they barely make it to the bed before they collapse on top of it. Part two of their honeymoon has commenced, but they won’t have enough energy for several hours to bother celebrating it--or to bother changing out of their clothes. 

He has just enough energy to think to sweep Rey into his arms before he falls into a sea of exhaustion so deep and intense that he thinks even in dreams that he may never come out of it. That’s perfectly okay with him, though, because all of his dreams are of his wife, the future they’ll have together, and the faces of their exes as they realize they are perfectly fine without them. 

They’ve got six more days before they’re back on the Emerald Coast, but even though they’ve got each other now, they’re both looking forward to the possibility of running into Bazine and Armitage and proving to them they’re getting on just fine without them.

*

The next morning he wakes to a parallel of them waking up in Hawai’i. This time, though, Rey is the one staring out the window of their hotel room looking out at a distant mountain over the lush greenery that provides their view this time. The ocean is behind them now, and his wife looks out at the jungle, an inquisitive expression on her face as she reaches fingers out into dappled sunlight, as if she can twist the golden rays between them. 

She’s captivating, and he’s been entranced just looking at her. 

“I can feel you staring,” she tells him a few seconds later, and he blushes as he half-buries his face in the pillow. “I didn’t say you had to stop.”

“Good, cause I don’t want to,” he replies, then he rolls out of bed, and makes his way toward her. With little effort, he slips his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him as his lips descend towards her neck, and he begins to pepper little kisses along the column of her throat. “Good morning.”

She hums contentedly as she tilts her head to allow him better access, and he leaves a mark down by her shoulder. Perhaps it’s a touch too early in the morning--the sun is just rising after all--but he doesn’t give a shit. The way she moans beneath him makes him think it must be worth it, and so he does it again, leaving another mark further up on the base of her neck. “Ben…”

“I’ve been thinking about this since you made me come on the plane yesterday,” he whispers, then he lets one of his hands drift down along the lines of her abdomen, the smooth planes of her muscles sending chills down his spine as his fingers begin to bury themselves beneath the waistband of her pajama shorts. “I want to return the favor.”

“Do you now?” she asks, but her breathing is already growing uneven as his fingers find her clit, and begin rubbing little circles into it. “Is this all you plan to do?” One of her hands comes up to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to her as he continues to kiss her neck as gently as he possibly can. “Or is there more? We have a lot of freedom now that we’re not confined to those airplane seats…”

“Mmm,” he breathes, then he releases her clit, and begins to tug her shorts down over the swell of her ass, letting them fall limply to the floor as he presses another kiss just beneath her jaw. “We do have a lot more freedom.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

_ God,  _ he loves her. Ben grins against her neck, then he backs away, and uses his grip on her waist to turn her around before he lifts her into his arms. It’s a lucky thing they’re so in sync, because she knows without him having to ask to wrap her legs around his hips, and she giggles as he backs them into the nearest wall. 

The instant her back hits it she’s pulling him into a kiss. Her arms wrap tightly around his neck and she kisses him fiercely, with far more energy than she should have given how early it is, but he appreciates it nonetheless. He appreciates  _ her _ . 

With Rey successfully pinned to the wall, he makes quick work of freeing his cock from his pants. At least, he tries to, she keeps kissing him in a way that makes him lose focus, in a way that’s got his head spinning. It makes him moan loudly before he’s even gotten himself lined up with her, and he thinks it might be the best thing to ever happen to him, but the worst thing to ever happen to the people in the room next door to theirs. 

Eventually, he manages, and she finally stops kissing him as he positions his tip at her entrance, groaning as he realizes how wet she is already.  _ God,  _ she’s so fucking wet, she feels incredible around him as he slowly pushes into her, living for the way her breathing shakes as he sinks deeper and deeper inside of her. 

“Would you please stop moving so slowly and just fuck me already?” she asks him, and who is he to deny this woman what she wants?

Without another second’s hesitation, Ben pulls back, and thrusts his cock back into her again, fucking her into the wall as she’d asked him to. He starts off a little slowly, sure, but his pace picks up as he buries his face in her neck, continuing to kiss what he’s discovering to be his favorite spot as they say good morning to each other in the very, very physical sense. 

“God, Ben, you feel so good,” she whispers to him, and he makes a tiny sound of acknowledgment that very closely resembles a moan of pleasure as he thrusts a little more deeply inside of her, feeling as if he might lose himself to this moment, and being very much okay with that. 

“Is this how we’re going to spend our honeymoon? Lost inside one another?” he asks as he pulls back, his eyes looking between hers, searching the hazel of her irises for any sign of dissent. As usual, he finds  _ none.  _

She nods. “Haven’t we spent it like that already?” 

It’s true, this entire trip has been full of them seeing no one else in the world but each other, growing more and more in sync as the time passes. He wonders what will happen when they’re old and gray. Will they be finishing each other’s sentences by then? Will Rey be able to all but read his mind?

This is what love is, isn’t it? It’s not just liking each other enough to hang out, go on dates, or even have sex; it’s being in sync like this. It’s knowing what the other person is thinking, it’s feeling warm and fuzzy whenever they walk into a room, and feeling cold when they’re gone. He hasn’t been separated from Rey since their impulsive wedding, but he knows he’s not looking forward to it. 

They’d promised to keep separate places for a year after the wedding just to be sure they aren’t just infatuated with one another, but he really wants to shorten that time by several months if she’s willing. He wants to feel like this with her as often as he possibly can, and he knows he’s going to be sorrowful when the honeymoon is over. 

After the thrill is gone, he’s still going to have her, but he doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t want this to end, but then he looks into her eyes, and he knows it won’t. He knows without a shadow of doubt that this is their fate. Their marriage, their love is strong enough to withstand anything that gets thrown their way. They both had shitty childhoods and shitty adult lives, they both grew hard, they both liked pineapples on pizza, rock and roll, and weren’t too worried about whether or not they wanted to have children one day. Their opinions matched just like everything else about them, their bodies fit together, their minds fit together, and they were going to be okay. 

“Rey…” he breathes, feeling himself growing close as one of his hands comes up to caress her cheek, needing to feel her as his thrusts increase their pace, becoming more frantic and erratic. 

Her hands are on the sides of his face, brushing his hair back behind his ears, her eyes are locked on his, and he knows they are in this together. Seconds later, they both tumble over the edge, crying out each other’s names as their foreheads press together, and they ride out their high as one. He feels unstoppable when he’s with her, and even as he pulls out, even as he lets her back down on the ground, he knows that feeling will forever linger. 

They’re forging something stronger than any steel could ever hope to be on this trip, but they still need to be sure it solidifies properly. 

“You want to order room service and just sit in bed all day?” he asks, panting hard from the exertion of what they’d just done. 

His wife’s forehead is coated in a sheen of sweat, he can feel it as it presses against his own, and as he listens to her uneven, short breaths, he thinks he’s found a new memory to add to his list of favorites. “I would—I would love to,” she replies, pulling away so he could  _ see  _ the sweat on her face, the flushed color of her cheeks, and the way her eyes were half lidded with lingering desire. 

“Then let’s get in bed, turn on the tv, and do that.”

“Don’t we have paradise to view, though?”

He hums as he pulls back, taking both her hands in his, and kissing them. “I don’t know I think it looks pretty nice from here.”

“I could slap you.”

“Is this our first fight?” he asks, then they both burst into laughter, and he steps back, sitting on the bed as he looks up at his wife, who comes over to sit down beside him before taking him in her arms, and resting her chin against his shoulder. 

“I hope we never fight.” Her voice is quiet as she says this, and not for the first time, he thinks she sounds afraid, almost terrified even. He wants to take her fear away, but he knows what happens in a marriage or any relationship, really. People argue, they fight, they disagree, and as much as he wants to avoid that with her, he needs to allow for bad things to be possible. It’ll spare him disappointment later on if things do go south. 

Ben covers one of her hands with his as he looks out the window, taking in the lush, green jungle. “We might, but I’m not worried about it,” he admits, lacing their fingers together. “I watched my parents argue over every little thing when I was growing up, and—and I swore I’d do better than that. I  _ believe  _ I can do better than that. Rey… I vowed myself to you, for better or for worse. I intend to honor it.”

“As do I,” she whispers softly. “I don’t have any blueprint for this, though. Marriage? I think I know a thing or two about love, but when it comes to this? Actually, properly being a team? Getting through even the bad parts? I have no idea how to do this.”

“I’m no expert either, but I think we can do this. I really believe we can. Every marriage is different, but—“ he takes a deep breath. “If either of us ever disagrees with something the other says, we shouldn’t hide it out of fear of an argument. We need to talk about it; that’s the only way for us to grow, to learn from it. That’s how we become who we were meant to be.”

His words linger in the air for a moment, and he feels like for once in a lifetime of saying the wrong thing, he’s said something right. Judging by the look on Rey’s face as he turns his head, he has in fact said something good. “Have you always been so wise?”

Chuckling softly, Ben presses a kiss into her hair. “I think you bring out the best in me.”

“And you bring out the best in me. I just… I know we’ll be fine, logically, but you know that feeling that we won’t be as well as I do. Our last partners abandoned us right when we needed them most, and you know my life story now, you understand—“ She pauses, seeming afraid again as memories flash before her eyes. “It’ll be sometime before it really settles with me that you’re not just temporary.”

“Well, I hope you get used to me, cause I already can’t picture waking up without you next to me.”

“Mmm, me too,” she breathes as she leans further against him. “You’re quite warm.”

“So are you. We’ll do great if we ever camp in the mountains or something.”

Both of them laugh at this, then she pulls back, looking into his eyes again as she breathes in deeply. “That’s something else we can do together, hmm? Plan trips like that?”

“Yeah, it is,” he says. “You’re right.”

“So do you like camping then?” she asks, and he grins as he shakes his head. “Really?”

“Hate it.”

Rey squeezes his hand. “We’ll just have to change your mind about it. I’ll take you sometime. I’ve got this really nice tent and an air mattress and a thick duvet—you’ll never get cold.”

He thinks to himself for a moment, then he shrugs. “Maybe we’ll give it a try. It’ll probably be a lot more fun with you than with my parents.”

“I hope so,” she replies, then she kisses his cheek, her lips soft against his skin, causing his eyes to close as he leans into the touch, more confident than ever that he’d made the right decision in marrying this woman. “Now… can we maybe go see the island instead of sitting on our asses all day? We can do that when we get back to Florida.”

“Fair enough. What do you want to do first?” he asks, then they dive deep into planning. 

*

Bali passes faster than Hawai’i did. It’s a beautiful blur of sex, laughter, and jungle. Every day they’re doing something different, sometimes they’re trying new foods and drinking liquor they can’t find in the states, and other times they’re finding new ways to make love on a beach, but each one brings new memories he wants to keep forever. 

He takes a thousand pictures, and if it weren’t for all the digital clouds that exist nowadays, he’s certain he would’ve run out of room on his phone, which is now full of pictures of himself and his wife. Most importantly he’s got an album full of them where her smile is front and center. He probably loves that about her most of all. 

They’re both nervous when they have to leave, when they board their flight back home, but they’ve talked this over a thousand times over the last week. They’ve got this. He knows they’ve got this, but now their little world is going to open up again to allow work and their friends and family back into it. He’s going to miss the time when it was just them. 

He’s going to miss it with his entire heart and soul. 

Ben takes her hand when the plane lifts off, and he doesn’t let go until they land. When that happens, he’s still looking at her as they leave the plane, still wondering what happens next. They’re both jet-lagged to hell, and he wants to take a nap. From the looks of it, she’s exhausted, too. It’s nearly midnight, his place is arguably closer to the airport, and he’s got an idea. “You want to crash at my place tonight?”

Rey beams at him. “I thought you’d never ask,” she says as they make their way toward baggage claim, holding onto one another as they wait patiently for their checked bags to show their faces. “Are you ready for reality?”

“If I have to face reality with you? I’m ready for anything.” He’s grinning down at her now in spite of how tired he is. “We can do this.”

“We can,” she replies with a nod, then their bags become visible, and they both wait patiently for them to be brought closer by the carousel that spins in front of them. “I’ll get these.”

Before he can offer to grab hers for her, Rey leans forward, and captures both of the forty five pound bags by the handles, then pulls them off of the carousel in an unexpected show of strength. He knows she has muscles, but he hasn’t quite seen them in action like this since they’d gotten married. It leaves him awestruck, and as she hands him his, instead of thanking her, he says something else entirely. “I love you,” he blurts out, then he freezes, realizing what he’s just said, and knowing he hasn’t said that to her yet. 

He just told her he loved her because he saw her act like Hercules for two god damn seconds. He needs to get a grip. 

Luckily, Rey just blinks a little from surprise, laughing slightly as she sets down her bag, then she takes his face in her hands, and presses a short kiss to his lips. “I love you, too.”

The world is complete, he thinks. It is whole again. He’s been Humpty Dumpty, in pieces so long but now put back together, and he has been all along, but this makes him aware of just how complete he feels knowing she loves him back. It’s the best feeling in the entire fucking world. “You mean that?”

“I mean it,” she says, then she laughs as she looks down at her wedding ring, holding it up in front of her face as if to remind him how much. “I’ll tell you every day if you need me to.”

“I won’t stop you if you won’t stop me from saying it back.”

“We’re about to be very annoying, aren’t we?”

“We are sickening, truly,” he replies, then he swallows, mouth shifting awkwardly as he looks around. “Let’s go home.”

“Let’s go home,” she repeats, then they both lift up their bags, and walk out of the airport together, unified and ready to take on whatever challenges life throws at them as one. 

  
  



	7. Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woefully unedited but I wanted to get it up. I did this instead of school work today because I’m a gremlin.
> 
> * also the last chapter is just an epilogue 🙌 *

The first morning back from their honeymoon is a terrifying prospect. He’s got work in a few hours, and he has to touch base with his friends and family. Eventually, he knows he’s going to have to face Bazine, too. His mother had sent him a text once he’d informed her they’d landed safely back in the United States, his ex knows about his new wife, and apparently, Rey’s ex knows about him. 

What Armitage and Bazine’s reactions had been to the marriage, she wouldn’t say. All he knows is that his ex-fiancé wasn’t at the apartment they shared when he got back, and that she will be coming by at some point to grab her things—all of which his family, Poe, Finn, and Rose had been kind enough to pack up, doing the same to Rey’s apartment with her ex—and he will have to be gone if he doesn’t want to see her again. 

That’s a problem for later, though; right now he has his wife in his arms, and the world feels safe. He feels comforted, like there’s a barrier between him and what’s normal and miserable, and he knows that life is waiting for him, that he’s going to have to face the music eventually, but… can’t he just hold on to this a little longer? He knows he’ll feel it again, that the magic they’d found will always be there just under the surface, but he’s tasted the best of what life can be, and like anyone, he wants more. 

But that’s not how reality works, is it? There has to be balance, some bad to let the good shine through. The real world is scary and sometimes dark, but it isn’t all bad, this last week taught him that. Sometimes good, amazing, wonderful things do happen, he just has to be patient and wait for them. 

When his alarm goes off a few minutes later, he doesn’t even groan. Weirdly enough, he’s ready to face the day. Maybe it’s because he’s actually excited for what he’ll see when he comes home, and so as he shuts it off and he and Rey both stretch a little upon actually being awakened, he finds himself actually smiling. 

“I thought you didn’t have work until nine,” she mumbles, then she rolls over to face him, and his heart swells as her hazel eyes lock onto his. “Why is it half-past six?”

“Because I’ve got shit to deal with beforehand. Bazine’s coming by to pick up her stuff at eight, and I want to be sure I’m awake when she does,” he says, then he rubs a hand over his face, removing the little crusties that developed in the corners of his eyes in the night. “I need to get the keys back from her, too.”

Rey groans. “I should probably do the same with Armitage. He sent me… a slightly angry text while we were honeymooning.”

Concern fills Ben as he props his head up on his arm. “What do you mean, ‘slightly angry?’” w h  
She rolls over again, reaching casually for the phone she left on his nightstand before she turns back over, lying on her back as she opens it up, and pulls her text messages front and center before she shows him the screen.

Armitage  
  
Heard your friends packed up my things. I’ll be by to pick them up at your earliest convenience. Don’t expect me to continue to pay my share of the lease. Your new husband can help you if you can’t afford rent.  
  


He hadn’t previously known seeing red was a real fucking thing, but right now, Ben is actually seeing red. He’s livid, angry for what this guy has had the audacity to say to his wife after _he_ was the one who humiliated her by leaving her at the altar. “What a fucking asshole?”

“He was always kind of distant, but I guess this whole thing has just made him show his true colors,” Rey says, then she sets the phone down on her chest, and looks at him. “But it’s stupid, really, he knows I make twice as much money as he does with the EPA. He quite literally sent that text to be a dick.”

Even though he knows his wife is far more than strong enough to handle this, he still wraps an arm around her waist, gently rubbing his thumb over her side in a gesture of comfort. Going by the look on her face, though, he’d say she appreciates it. “What are you going to say back?”

A tiny hum escapes her as she thinks it through, then she leans forward, and places the world’s shortest kiss on the tip of her husband’s nose. “I’m going to be a bit of a dick. I’ve earned the rights. I know I could take the moral high ground, but I want to score one more punch before I go,” she tells him.

“You can do it.”

It’s supposed to be encouraging, but Rey just giggles at him and nods. “I know.” And he feels slightly foolish, but mostly proud as he watches her thumbs glide over her screen, typing out a response to her ex-fiance as she grins. “Hope you don’t mind if I told a little white lie.”

“Not at all,” he says, then she hands him her phone, looking up at him for approval as he reads what she’s sent her ex.

Armitage  
  
Heard your friends packed up my things. I’ll be by to pick them up at your earliest convenience. Don’t expect me to continue to pay my share of the lease. Your new husband can help you if you can’t afford rent.  
  
Okay, I’ll be available this afternoon around 4:30. And don’t worry about your share of the rent. I can cover it AND help my husband pay his. You forget who you almost married.  
  


He laughs as he reads it, nodding approvingly as the “seen at 6:36 am,” message pops up a few seconds later, but no bubbles pop up indicating that he’s typing a reply. She’s effectively shut him down, and he’s sure the man Rey had nearly married will eventually text her back to confirm that he’ll be there to pick up his things, but for now she’s put him in his place and shut him up.

This woman is going to be the death of him and he will gladly fall on her sword. 

“It’s perfect,” he tells her, then he clears his throat. “But Bazine is coming by to grab her things at eight. I don’t know how she’ll be—I’ve never seen her jealous—sp if you want to run for the hills before that, I totally understand.”

One of her hands came up, and rested against his cheek. “If you want me here, I’ll be here, if you want me to go, I’ll go. It’s up to you.” 

It makes him think for a second. He doesn’t want to see her say goodbye to him yet, but he also knows that he can’t ask her to help him deal with every piece of his personal business. He knows that there are some things he has to deal with on his own, and so he can’t ask her to be here. Forcing her to encounter his ex? She doesn’t deserve that. 

“No, I’ll be fine, you can go get ready for work, I’ll handle this alone.” Then he leans forward, and pulls her into another short kiss, their lips moving together for only a couple of seconds before he pulls back again. “Will you be okay handling Armitage alone?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” she promises him, then she shifts again, her leg brushing up against his as she caresses the base of his skull in one hand. “When will I see you after this?”

Ben thinks for a second. Reality doesn’t have to be all bad; escapes don’t just have to be found with great distance, sometimes they can be found in the simple things—the _mundane_ things. There’s a million steps they skipped as a couple on the road to becoming husband and wife, and one of them is a first date. “Go out with me tonight.”

“What?”

“Go out with me. We’ve been married for two weeks now and we’ve never been on a date,” he reminds her, then he grins. “Let’s go on our first date, Rey.”

A tiny sound somewhere between a laugh and a disbelieving scoff escapes her, then she’s smiling with him. “I’d love that. Where should we go?”

“Maybe we could just get a cup of coffee, you know, the way all great love stories start.”

“Oh, that’s bull shit, plenty of great love stories start without coffee.”

“That’s true, I think ours started on the steps of our wedding venue,” he says, then they both laugh softly for a couple of seconds, remembering how this whole thing had started. A part of him wonders what would’ve happened if he’d never said anything to her, if he’d never asked her if she was in the same boat. He also wonders what would’ve happened if she hadn’t noticed him staring at her, if they hadn’t talked, if they hadn’t come to the same conclusion. 

What if they hadn’t agreed to marry? What would’ve happened then? He’s incredibly lucky he’ll never have to find out. 

Rey leans forward, and kisses him again, and any worries he has about what could’ve been disappear as her warm lips caress his. Little moans escape him as she pulls him on top of her, using the hand she has in his hair to bring him close as they spend what little time they have left together this morning kissing one another senseless. 

He wants to spend all day like this, and he remembers the first day they spent in Hawai’i, how they’d kissed and cuddled in bed all day after unloading all of their baggage on each other, and he’d felt whole for the first time in a long time. There’s a large part of him that wants to feel that way again, that wants to just lay here, but he can’t. The party is over, and the thrill is gone. He has to face the music now. 

Pulling away from her hurts nonetheless, and when he has to roll out of bed, and leave this beautiful woman in it to dress and get ready to leave him, it damn near breaks his heart. Somehow he does it, though, and soon he’s walking through his kitchen making his breakfast, and he hears Rey telling him she’ll see him tonight somewhere in the background. 

Once she’s gone, he feels fucking empty. It’s stupid, isn’t it? He’s had her in his arms, his life, for the past two weeks. They’ve been all each other has for the past two weeks, but now that she’s not here… why does it hurt when she’s not here? It’s ridiculous. He should be sick of her, and he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him or why he feels this way, but he really wants to hold her again. 

He mostly just doesn’t want to talk to Bazine. He’s over his ex, he’s been over her since the moment she announced they wouldn’t be getting married, but he just doesn’t want to see her. 

_Get over it,_ he thinks to himself. He’s got to buck it up and let Bazine in to get the boxes that are crowding his living room, and it’s going to suck but he can get through it—he has to if he wants to take Rey out for coffee tonight. 

That thought puts a smile on his face, and so Ben manages to make his breakfast in peace, counting down the minutes until Bazine gets here with a little less anxiety than he’d been previously. 

*

Right on cue, one hour later, his phone dings with a text from his former fiance. He knows it’s her before he bothers opening the phone, because Rey’s at work by now and she told him she doesn’t really text much while she’s working. It must be Bazine, and he swallows nervously as he pulls the phone from the pocket of the jeans he’s changed into, but manages to keep the rest of his demeanor calm.

Baz  
  
I’m outside. Is she there?  
  


An amused snort escapes him at her inquiry on the woman he’s married. It reminds him of how Rey’s ex had spoken of him, and a part of him thinks they ought to set the two of them up. Based on how they react to marriage alone, they’d be perfect for each other. The thought has him chuckling to himself as he strolls up, opens the door, and reveals his ex to be standing on the other side in a perfectly tailored business suit with a bored expression on her face.

“Well, is she here?”

“Why? Did you want to meet her?” 

“I’m curious,” Bazine says with a shrug, then she moves past him into what used to be their apartment. “Where’s my stuff?”

_He_ is the one to move past her this time. “In the living room. Poe put it in there with my dad and some friends.”

She hums her understanding, then she takes in a deep breath as they walk into his living room, and she takes in the sight of all her things packed up into boxes. “My new place is on the other side of the city. I’m living with a friend until I find somewhere of my own.”

“Okay,” he says, then he gestures to the boxes. “Go ahead.”

All she does for a second is blink at him, then he watches her cross her arms over her chest, and she stares at him in disbelief. “That’s it?”

Confusion swells within him. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t have anything else to say?”

“What’s there to say? You left me at the aisle, and within ten seconds of you walking away, I knew I was already over you and my only concern was what the hell we were going to do with all that wasted money on the big wedding.” He throws his hands up, then makes his way over to his sofa, and sits down. “Baz, you are the one who left. You don’t get to be mad that I turned your decision around on you and found my soulmate in the process. You don’t get to do that when _you_ are the one who left me at the aisle.”

She scoffs. “And so you turn around and marry the first woman you see as—what—revenge?”

A small laugh escapes Ben, because that’s pretty much exactly what happened. “Yeah, yeah I did. I married her and went on our honeymoon with her. We spent two weeks together getting to know one another, and you know what? I’m glad you left me at the aisle, you let me realize who I was _really_ meant to be with.”

A huff of air leaves her lungs in a rush, like she wants to yell at him but doesn’t have the energy to. “I was just hoping… I was hoping you’d take a little time to be heartbroken if I’m being honest. I thought you loved me.”

“Do you know how easy it is to fall out of love with someone when they’re not the right person? Do you know how quickly I realized all the flaws and little things that made us not work?” he asks as she picks up one of her boxes, and holds it in her arms. “I fell out of love with you before I met Rey. By the time she got abandoned by her fiance and came outside, my heart was clear, ready to belong to someone else rather than to you.” Taking in another deep breath, he gets up, and makes his way over to her. “And you weren’t in love with me either, or you wouldn’t have left.”

“That’s fair.”

“You don’t get to be mad. You don’t get to be upset. Not at me. With yourself? Grieve all you want, but we both know you didn’t love me and I didn’t love you enough to try to stop you.”

“And your wife? You love her?”

“I do.”

“It’s been two weeks, Ben.”

“Some people take years, others take minutes. We got lucky enough to know almost instantly which of those two we were. _I_ got lucky enough to know I loved her the very night I married her. So… thank you.”

This time she’s the one who blinks in confusion. “For what?”

“For bringing me to her,” he says, then before she can say anything else, before she can get offended or react, he bends down to pick up a box. “Let’s get this stuff out of here, then we don’t ever have to speak to each other again.”

“I’d like that,” she replies, then they begin moving her things out of his apartment in silence, neither of them speaking a word—not even goodbye—even when they put the last one into the trunk of her car, and she unlocks it. 

One last look is exchanged between them, and for half a second, he tries to find something in her eyes that he must’ve seen and used to know he loved her, but he can’t see anything in them. There’s no spark, and if he’s being honest, there never was. 

It only solidifies that what he did with Rey wasn’t a mistake, but the best decision of his entire life, and he can’t wait for them to both be done with work for the day so he can finally take his wife on a date. 

*

That evening, he gets home from work and changes into something a bit more casual. He puts on jeans and v-neck, throwing on an old leather jacket he’d inherited from his father before running his fingers through his hair to make sure there’s no obnoxious tangles. Sure, Rey’s seen him in everything from a tuxedo to his pajamas at this point, but this is a first date, and he wants to look nice for her. 

His phone pings with a text as he’s starting to grab his keys and make his way out the door. He nearly drops his apartment keys when he sees it come in, and he hurries to unlock the phone to read whatever she’s said to him.

Wife  
  
Just in case you needed a reminder of my address. Missing you <3  
  


Her address is listed just below that, a smile rising on his face as he sees it. And maybe his heart swells with pride and love when he realizes that she’s missed him all day, too. He feels like a blushing teenager as he makes his way out of his apartment, waiting until he’s on the elevator before he types up a reply.

Wife  
  
Perfect, I’ve been missing you too.  
  


By the time the elevator arrives on the lobby floor, he’s practically bouncing with energy, and he bolts from the building like a bat out of hell, rushing toward his car like his life depends on it, because right now it really feels like it does. He hasn’t seen her in ten hours, and that’s not long at all, but he’s excited. Now that they’re back, they can start actually working on their relationship, and that’s exciting to him. He’s excited to get the chance to really be her husband.

The drive that ensues feels way longer than it actually is. For the first few minutes, he drives in silence, but then he grows antsy, and so he turns on the radio, allowing the piano melody of _Your Song_ to fill the car as he drives down the highway toward Rey’s place. He still owes her a showing of his piano skills, something they’ll have to work on at some point, but for now, he listens to Elton John and thinks of her. 

His heart starts racing the closer he gets to her place, his entire body feeling like a livewire as he pulls into the parking lot, the last notes of the song playing as he searches for a spot. Eventually, he finds one, but by then the radio has changed to _Rocketman_ and Rey’s favorite song has faded out. 

Shutting off the radio, Ben pulls into a parking space in the corner of the lot, and only just remembers to put the car in park and shut everything off before he gets out of the car, and makes his run over to the lobby of her building, still jittery on his feet as he walks inside, and texts her with shaky hands.

Wife  
  
Hey, I’m in the lobby.  
  
Be right down. TIME TO GET CAFFEINATED.  
  


Another laugh escapes him at the humor in her text, then he shoves the phone in his pocket, and waits for his wife to greet him.

Luckily, he doesn’t have to wait long. About thirty seconds later, she appears in the lobby, the doors opening to reveal an equally casually dressed Rey. The woman he’d married is also wearing a classic t-shirt and jeans combo, but hers is maroon while his is white and her jacket is a hoodie while his is leather. 

Perfection is the first word that comes to his mind, and his feet move before his mind can tell them to, shuffling him forward until he’s right in front of her. She’s shaking her head and laughing as he approaches, and as he pulls her into his arms, the low level anxiety that’s been following him all day fades away. “Hi,” she breathes in his ear, and he relaxes against her, holding her firmly but not tightly as they sway for a few seconds in the middle of the floor. “I missed you.”

“You said that in your text,” he replies, then he pulls back. “But I missed you, too.”

“I can’t say it enough.” She lets her palms fall to rest on his chest, and finally he can properly see the colors that shine in her irises, he can become lost in them—in her, and he feels a euphoria he can only describe as something holy. “God, it was so awkward seeing Armitage again.”

“He wasn’t a dick to you, was he?” Ben asks, worry seeping into his voice as he looks into her eyes. “Cause I’ll help you hide the body if he was.”

Giggles fall from her lips as she smacks him on the shoulder, and shakes her head. “No, he was fine, it was just weird.” She pulls him a little closer. “He asked about you. Wanted to know what you were like.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him you were the best man I’d ever met. That I looked at you and knew instantly you were the one,” she tells him, then she leans forward, pressing her forehead against his. “That I was grateful for what he did because it brought me to the person I was actually meant to be with.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. What about you? How did things go with Bazine?”

He sighs. “She was jealous for about half a minute, but then I shut it down, told her she didn’t have a right to complain, and we just packed up her shit in silence. Weird, not heartbreaking at all… not even a little sad.”

“We’re both over them.”

“I think we are.”

Ben’s hands start rubbing circles in her back, and Rey leans into him, seeming to relax from his presence the same way he’s relaxed from hers. “How long did we want to wait until we moved in together again?”

“A year.”

“Can we make that a few months?” 

He doesn’t give her an answer, he just leans forward, and kisses her, and though his apartment is technically several miles away, _this_ is what feels like coming home. Every time their lips brush together, he feels like there’s some kind of lightning building between them; he’s seeing all those things that romantic comedies and novels and cliches said he would—fireworks, sparks, electricity, and so many more—and that’s never been more true than it is now.

It’s unimaginable to him that somehow he didn’t even know her a month ago, that somehow she’s become so important that he can’t imagine life without her again. They might separate temporarily for work reasons, but overall she’s going to be there as long as they both shall live, as long as their vows made them promise. 

Every time he remembers that—every time he has that reassurance—Ben melts into the kiss a little more, his whole body feeling warm as hers presses up against his. It makes him feel at peace, alive, like he could run for miles but also stand right here forever at the same time. 

“Yes,” he tells her as she pulls away, then he nods. “My lease is up in September.”

“Mine’s August.”

“Then you move in with me in August and we’ll find a place together.” He takes her face in his hands, eyes flickering between hers as he watches the corners of her mouth twitch up. “So what do you say we go get some coffee and talk about how shitty work was?”

The exhale she gives him in response nearly gives way to a sort of orgasmic moan, and now he’s helplessly thinking of how she _actually_ sounds when she comes, how she’d writhed beneath him, on top of him on all those many times they’d been together over their honeymoon. His cock twitches helplessly in his pants in response. “God, yes, can you marry me again?”

Another chuckle leaves him. “You know what, maybe in a few years we should go and renew our vows so we can plan a wedding. Just for us.”

“No, ours was perfect,” she replies. “It was spontaneous, and fun, and absolutely insane, and it was surprisingly everything I’d ever wanted in a wedding.”

“You mean that?”

“I mean that. I think that first kiss on the beach just really sold it for me.”

“We could go to the beach again tonight after coffee? I could… I could kiss you again?” he asks, knowing she’ll say yes, but also finding a thrill in that sliver of doubt that sneaks in at that moment before she does. 

Rey takes one of his hands in hers, and lets them sway in the almost nonexistent space between them. “I’d love that. I think the moon’s full tonight, so at least we’ll be able to see.”

“I’d kiss you in the dark anywhere.”

“We can’t have sex on the beach here, I could never look my mother in the eye again.”

He snorts his laughter, imagining the crimson blush that would paint his wife’s face if his mother in law ever found out about what they would hypothetically do on that beach. “Coffee first? We’ll need energy if we’re going to be out late.”

“I’ve got work in the morning. So do you.”

“But it’ll be worth it?”

“... I’ll kill you,” she tells him, voice a stern warning as she steps away, but continues to tug on his hand, guiding him out of her building’s lobby. “So where did you park?”

“Outside in the corner of the garage.”

“Oh, don’t park there again.”

“Why not?”

“Teenagers like to throw cigarette butts down there. Your car’s probably got scorch marks already,” she tells him, and though this should bother him, should make him at least mildly annoyed, he’s oddly charmed by the way she says it. Somehow, it makes him love her a little more. Something about the teasing way in which she speaks, the fun, flirty banter she has with him, and the ease with which she leans into him, makes it difficult to be angry about anything right now. 

As they walk into the garage, Ben turns to look at her, watching his wife as she searches the garage for his car until he holds up his keys, and clicks the unlock button, causing his headlights to flash briefly in the distance. “There she is.”

“There she is,” he repeats, then relief fills him when he can see no teenager cigarette butts covering the hood of his car. “No butts.”

Rey snorts her laughter. “No butts.”

“Except yours,” he teases, then her other hand comes up to smack the side of his face, but the tiny pinch of pain is worth it for the look on her face as she struggles not to fucking chortle. 

Together, they walk up to the car, then they open their doors, and slide in, Rey kissing his cheek once the doors are shut and they start to get situated. It brings a smile to his face as he puts the keys in the ignition, and the car roars to life, then he buckles his seatbelt, and turns to look at her. “You ready?”

“Born ready,” she replies, then he slips a hand off of the steering wheel, letting it stay in the space between them until hers joins it. He then waits for their fingers to lace together before he pulls the car out of the space, and they drive out onto the road—into the unknown that is their first _real_ date.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we’ve reached the end. Right after TRoS, which I will say nothing about out of respect to those who still haven’t seen it, but I think this ending hopefully feels good either way. 💖 thanks for letting me write this for you all.

When this had started, Ben had a fear that it would end in tears and heartbreak. He worried that their marriage born of pettiness and spite would end just like that, in pettiness and spite, but somehow, in spite of all the odds, in spite of how impossible it all was, three years had passed, and they were still as happy as the day they’d said: “I do.”

For the first couple of years, they lived in an apartment together, spending their days at work and their nights holding one another, dancing, laughing, and getting to know each other more and more. Everything he learned about Rey made him fall more in love with her, and by the time the year ended, he knew without a doubt that there was no way in hell this marriage was ending in divorce. There was no need to annul anything. 

Somehow, they’d gotten lucky enough to find each other and be with the person they were meant for, and the rest of the world could, quite frankly, kiss their asses if they thought they were moving too fast. They were moving at the exact speed they’d always been meant to. 

After those first few years, though, they started talking about their future again. Both of them were secure in their jobs and had enough time on their hands that they felt like they could be responsible for an addition to the family—perhaps one of the five dogs they’d always joked about since the night of their wedding to start—but they both knew their little apartment was no place for a third member of their party, much less more. 

They began house hunting two and a half years into their marriage, and after a long, hard search that was honestly exhausting, they found the perfect home in a quiet little neighborhood. Children and dogs lined front yards and shouted or barked jubilantly while they played. The neighbors were friendly and a mix of both parents and dog parents, and so once he and Rey made a stop to the humane society, they’d fit right in. 

At least, that’s what he hopes as he sets the last of their boxes into their new living room, putting it down right by the grand piano left behind as a gift from the last owner. He hopes they’ll fit in, that everyone will like them, that he and Rey will be good dog parents or even good  _ actual  _ parents if they ever go down that path. He hopes the future  _ looks _ as good as it feels. 

“Hey,” Rey says from behind him, then arms wrap around his waist, hands locking over his abdomen as she rises onto the balls of her feet to press a kiss to his hair. 

He closes his eyes, leaning back into the touch as he rests his hands over hers, his thumb sweeping over the band of her engagement ring. “Hi.”

“You know, I can’t help noticing we’ve got a piano in this house,” she whispers against his neck, placing a kiss there as his blood rushes due South. “And you made me a promise on our honeymoon, Mister. Kanata-Solo.”

Ben groans, remembering how they’d had their first honest heart to heart in their Hawai’i hotel room, the promise he’d made her but never fulfilled because there wasn’t exactly an abundance of pianos in his life. Now there is, and it’s just a few feet in front of him, and he can feel a tingling in his fingers as they remember how to play the song he knows she loves most in the world. “Are you asking me to play music for you, Mrs. Kanata-Solo?”

“I might be,” she replies, then she leans her head against his neck. “Please?”

He thinks for a minute, because he really does owe her this—the music—and he wants to play, his fingers are itching to move in a way they haven’t in years. Muscle memory is compelling him to move, but he can’t, not yet, there’s boxes all around them that yearn to be unpacked. They need to at least pretend to get some work done before he serenades his wife for the first time. 

At least, the first time that won’t be in the shower. They’ve definitely harmonized together acapella a few times in their apartment over the years, but this is different. This is their first attempt at an actual serenade, and his first time in a decade touching a piano’s keys, so he wants to stall a little longer, unpack a few boxes and such, and get the next stage of their life together ready. 

“Let’s unpack a little bit first, okay? Then I’ll play the piano all night if you want me to,” he says, turning around in her arms to kiss her forehead, lips pressing gently to her warm skin as she leans into his touch. “Maybe I’ll even teach you a few notes.”

Rey hums her response, and he feels soothed as her fingers stroke his hair, causing him to smile as he pulls back from her, and she nods. “I love it,” she tells him, then she places her palms on either of his cheeks, and pulls him in for a brief kiss. “And you. Let’s unpack.”

He’s still smiling as she pulls away, his dimples undoubtedly on full display, but he doesn’t care, he just wants to bask in the simple joy of watching his wife dance away to unpack their house, to properly move them in. A good ten seconds pass of just watching her before he thinks to be a half decent husband and join in, but then he springs into action, and together they begin to make their living room look like something that’s  _ theirs _ , like something that belongs to them. 

*

They only get about half an hour of work in before Ben starts staring at the piano, finding he actually would rather sing for Rey than do housework at the moment. She notices midway through unpacking their wedding photos and laying them out on the shelf, and he watches the grin light up her face as she puts up the picture of their first kiss, immortalized forever by the picture his father had cheekily taken during the ceremony. “Go ahead, I’ll join you in a minute,” she tells him, then he gives her another smile before he gets up, and walks over to the piano. 

Sitting down in front of it is easy. Lifting the cover to expose the instrument is easier. Somehow, though, as his fingers ghost over the white and black keys, he finds he doesn’t know where to begin and he’s played this song a thousand times. It’s nerves—it must be—he can’t think of anything else that could possibly be stopping him right now. 

Luckily, his wife is perhaps the greatest woman on the planet, and soon he feels her at his side, her head resting on his shoulder and her hands wrapped around his bicep, clinging to him as he finds the song streamed right back into his brain. The first few notes come out a little shaky, but then he’s playing, and it’s like his hands know what to do without his mind needing to. The only thing his mind needs to supply, actually, is the lyrics. 

Taking in a deep breath, Ben let’s himself sing the opening words, “ _ It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside… _ ” and though he’s nervous, he loves Rey more than he’s scared of singing for the first time in years, and so he serenades her to the best of his ability. His voice is trembling, but the emotion adds a new weight to it, he thinks, and his shaky fingers seem to be endearing to her as she joins him midway through, and once he’s supported by her voice, he feels like he’s unstoppable. 

It hits him again how right this is, how if Bazine hadn’t walked out on him they’d probably be in the middle of divorce proceedings right now, and his life would be miserable. Rey would probably be in a similar situation. They’d be so near to one another and yet so far, and maybe they would’ve found one another eventually, but he knows that it wouldn’t have been the same as having one another now. He knows it was meant to be this way. 

As the song comes to a close, Ben places a hand on his wife’s cheek, looking at her with eyes that he hopes will convey everything he feels even though they both know the depth of the love he has for her. “Was that good?” he asks tentatively, hoping it was as perfect for her as it felt for him. 

“I want to hear it every night,” she assured him, causing his eyebrows to shoot toward his hairline. 

“Every night?” 

“Maybe just every night you’re feeling up to it,” she tells him a few seconds later, seeming to take some time to mull over her initial command. “But I would like to hear it again one day.”

He grins, feeling warm as he wraps an arm around her waist, and pulls her close against him. “One day sounds good,” he says, then he presses another gentle kiss to her hair. “So… you want to finish unpacking and figure out how we’re going to fill all the space in this house after that?”

Her face grows a bit more serious as he looks down at her. “I was thinking about that actually.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She shifts beside him, and one of her hands falls to rest on his thigh. “I definitely think we should adopt a dog. I keep having dreams about you cuddling a golden retriever puppy and being absolutely besotted.” They both laugh, then she squeezes his thigh ever so gently. “But I realized something else. If I hadn’t found Maz my life would’ve been completely and utterly miserable. I would’ve bounced around the system until I was eighteen and maybe never even left England.” Her eyes drift down, but he continues to hang on her every word as she speaks, taking in a deep, shaky breath before she goes on. 

“Ben, I want to do for someone what Maz did for me. I want—one day, at least, maybe not right now—I want us to adopt a child. Not a baby, not an infant, a child. Someone who has already learned to walk and talk and just needs a home, someone who needs to heal. I think… I think it would help me as much as it helps them.”

He blinks at her, disbelieving and excited at the same time. “You’d want to raise a child with me?”

“If you’d want to raise one with me. I don’t know if I’d be a good mother or anything, but I know that one day, I’d like to try.”

“Rey, I think you’d be amazing at it. Far better than you give yourself credit for,” he tells her, brushing a piece of her hair back behind her ear. “I’d be honored to start a family with you.”

She laughs, sounding relieved, then she leans her head against his. “But we’re adopting a golden retriever first, right?”

“If we can find one at the shelter.”

“I’ll love whatever we find.”

“Great, then we’ve got a house to unpack and dog-proof. I want to keep our furry-child safe before it even gets here.”

He can’t see her face, but he knows she’s smiling. “You know that means you’re going to be an amazing father, right? Both to a dog and a human?”

Pulling away, he looks down at her face, and let’s his hand drift down to caress her cheek, stroking her skin as gently as he can. “You’ll be twice as good as I am,” he says, then before she can interrupt him, he laughs quietly to himself. “I’m so glad I met you.”

“Me too,” she replies, then he leans down, and closes the gap between them, his lips fitting over hers as if they’ve just made another vow—the one that seals the fate of their future—and it, like the universe around them, feels right. As he sweeps her into his arms, his life has never felt more perfect, and he knows that as the years start to pass and they begin to grow old together, it can only get better from here. There can only be more kisses, more smiles, more laughter, and this is just their first day in the home they can finally call theirs. There’s many more days like this to come, many more anniversaries, birthdays, and celebrations, and he can’t wait to see them, but he also wants to take his time. 

As he kisses her in front of their new piano, he can’t help but thinking of the song she calls her favorite, the one he’s just serenaded her with. It is true, life is that much more wonderful with her in the world, and he’s glad she let him put it in words. He’s glad she’s part of his life, and that sometimes, if one is extremely, extremely lucky, love at first sight can very much be real. 


End file.
